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THE JESUIT MAETYES OF JAPAN. 



A HISTOEY 



THE LIVES AND HAETYEDOM 

OF 

PAUL MICHI, 
JAMES CHISAI, AND JOHN SOAN DE GOTO, 

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 



BY FATHER BOERO, 

OF THE SAME SOCIETY. 




TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN 

BY A CATHOLIC PRIEST. 



DUBLIN : 
JAMES DUFFY, 7, WELLINGTON-QUAY, 

AND 22, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 

1862. 



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DUBLIN 

Pritthb bg $. p. ©'fowl* attb &m, 

G & 7, GREAT BRUNSWICK-STREET. 



CONTENTS, 



Preface, < . . . . . . vii 

FIRST PART. 

TAGS 

I. Life of the Holy Martyr, Paul Michi, his 

country, birth, and childhood, . . 1 
II. His education in the seminary of the nobles 

in Anzuciama, 5 

III. Paul runs great risk of his life during 

the sack of Anzuciama — He pursues his 
studies, 9 

IV. He enters the Society of Jesus, and applies 

himself to the acquirement of human and 
divine knowledge, . . . .14 

V. His missionary labours and apostolic 

preaching, 18 

VI. His writings and publications in defence of 

the faith, 23 

VII. A short account of his religious virtues, . 25 
VIII. Life of the holy Martyr John Soan or de 
Goto — His country and birth — Goes into 
voluntary exile for the faith, ... 29 
IX. Asks to be received into the Society — Is 
made Catechist— System of selecting 
them — His labours with Father Peter de 
Morecon, . . . . . .32 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

X. The life of the holy Martyr James Chisai — 
Born and reared a heathen, he is con- 
verted to the faith of Jesus Christ — He 
marries and repudiates his wife on account 
of her apostacy from the faith, . . 37 
XL He renounces the world, and goes to live 
with the Fathers of the Society as Cate- 
chist— His tender devotion to the Pas- 
sion of Jesus Christ, .. . . . 39 

SECOND PART. 

Passion and Death of the Three Holy Martyrs. 

I. Foundation of Christianity in Japan — Cha- 
racter of the Emperor Taicosama, . 43 * 
, IT. Taicosama's first persecution of the Chris- 
tians — Origin of another and more terrible 
persecution — He sentences all the minis- 
ters and followers of the Gospel to death, 47 

III. Zeal of the Christians in presenting them- 

selves for martyrdom — Taicosama miti- 
gates his sentence against the Fathers 
and the faithful, 54 

IV. Taicosama sentences the religious to death 

— A curious incident of one man substi- 
tuting himself for another of the same 
name in order to win the palm of mar- 
tyrdom, .67 

V. How our three, Paul Michi, John de Goto, 
and James Chisai, were comprised in the 
sentence of death — the wonderful delight 
with which they accept martyrdom, . 73 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

VI. The Japanese executioner cuts off an ear of 
each of the twenty-four martyrs — They 
are exposed to public derision in the 
streets of Miako — Affecting incident of 
an old man recently converted to the 
faith, . . . • . .79 

VII. Father Organtino's sentiments on receiving 
the ears of our three brothers— How the 
Martyrs comported themselves in the 
streets of Miako, .... 88 

VIII. The Martyrs are conveyed from Miako to 

Nangasasky — Incidents on. the way, . 96 
IX. They are joined by new companions on the 
way — The Martyrs arrive at Facata — 
Letters from the Commissary, Peter Bap- 
tist* and Paul Michi, addressed to the 
Rector of Nangasasky and the Vicepro- 

vincial, 104 

X f Discovery of miraculous crucifixes presag- 
ing martyrdom on the cross, . . .112 
XI. Various incidents connected with the Mar- 
tyrs in the vicinity of Xangasasky — 
Fazamburo's affection for Paul Michi — 
Paul's joy and fervor — John Soan and 
James Chisai make their religious vows — 
Respect shown to the Martyrs by the 
Christians — John's interview with his 
father, 120 

XII. Japanese crosses. — How the Japanese cru- 
cify their criminals — Interesting incidents 
relating to the twenty- six crucified Mar- 
tyrs—Paul Michi addresses the spectators 
from his cross, 143 



VI CONTENTS. 



XIII. Concourse and devotion of the Christians to 

the Martyrs — They are visited and vene- 
rated by the Bishop of Japan, the King 
of Arima, and the Prince of Omura, . 158 

XIV. Wonderful signs in confirmation of their 

martyrdom ; and, above all, how their 
blood became the seed of vast numbers 
of Christians, . . . . .165 

XV, Translation of the Martyrs' relics to Ma- 
nilla and Macao — Acts of their canoni- 
zation, ....... 169 

XVI. Catalogue of the religious of the Society 
put to death for the faith in Japan — 
Brief notice of the Bishops who governed 
that Church, . . . . ' . .172 

Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites 
for the canonization of the twenty- six 
Martyrs, . . . . .183 

Decree of the Holiness of our Lord Pius IX., 
sanctioning the canonization of the three 
Martyrs of the Society of Jesus, . . ib. 



PREFACE. 



For sake of greater clearness, I divide 
this brief history into two parts. In the 
first I will give the life of the three holy- 
Martyrs, taking it from authentic and 
trustworthy memoirs, and also from the 
more elaborate writings of Nierembergh^ 
Alegambe, the Bollandists, and other 
authors. In the second part I will nar- 
rate ' the causes which originated the 
persecution ; and under the same head I 
will recount distinctly the Acts of the 
Martyrs, in the very words of that most 
exquisite and elegant narrative which- 
has been handed down to us by Father 
Daniel Bartoli, in his History of Japan. 
It is, therefore, not without good reason 
that I have called this book not a history 
written by myself, but a compilation, with 
a view that everything that is good or 
valuable in it may be reflected back on 

b 



Vlll PREFACE. 



the unparalleled genius and most elegant 
style of Bartoli. I will say nothing of the 
veracity or fidelity of his narrative : for 
he has drawn all the particulars from the 
sacred and civil informations, which were 
authentically deposed, concerning this 
memorable fact, by order of the Sacred 
Congregation of Kites, and the Royal 
Court of Spain, as also from letters and 
original reports which were despatched by 
ocular witnesses from Japan to Rome, all 
of which we still preserve. 

May the Lord deign to regard with 
merciful eyes that abandoned nation, and 
cause the blood of its thousands of martyrs 
to fructify speedily ! Martyrs indeed they 
were, who, in the midst of the most atro- 
cious torments and afflictions, generously 
defended the faith of Jesus Christ, carried 
thither by the Apostle of the East, Saint 
Francis Xavier — nay, cultivated and dis- 
seminated it throughout the whole empire^ 
till at last it was entirely uprooted and 
destroyed by the fury of persecutions. 



THE LIVES 

OF THE 

HOLY MARTYES OF JAPAN, 

LIFE OF THE HOLY MARTTB, PAUL MICHI — HIS 
COUNTRY, BIRTH, AND CHILDHOOD. 

Japan, an empire in the most eastern part 
of Asia, consists of a group of islands 
situated at short distances from one 
another, and was discovered by the Por- 
tuguese in 1542. These islands com- 
municate with each other by means of 
inlets from the sea; the principal being 
eight in number, and three of these, 
Niphon, Xicoco, and Ximo, the largest, 
occupy an area considerably greater than 
that of all Italy. The principal island, 
which the natives call Niphon, the 
Chinese Ippon, and we Japan, gives its 
name to the whole of that Archipelago. 
Japan was anciently governed by an 



2 LIVES OF THE 

emperor, called the Dairi, or Ecclesiastical 
Sovereign; but when the governors of 
the provinces rebelled against his autho- 
rity, they divided the empire into sixty- 
six, or, as others say, sixty-eight petty 
principalities, till at last, some time before 
the year 1571, Nobunanga, prince of a 
minor province named Voari, by force 
of arms made himself monarch of thirty- 
five kingdoms; and Fasciba, his succes- 
sor, consolidated all Japan under one 
monarchy, which has continued down to 
our times. 

It was in this kingdom that our holy 
martyr, Paul Michi, was born, in the year 
1564. Documents forwarded to Rome by 
the Jesuit Provincial of Japan, fully satisfy 
us that he saw the light in Giamascir, a 
district bordering on the grand Miako, 
then the metropolis, or chief seat of the 
government of the entire kingdom. His 
father w r as Michi Fandoidono, a man of 
most noble descent, famed for his martial 
career, and for a long time before greatly 
esteemed by the emperor Nobunanga, in 
whose court he resided. His mother, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 6 

who in baptism was called Mary, was 
also of noble blood, for it is an inflexible 
law of the Japanese that their nobility 
shall never intermarry with persons of 
inferior social position. It was in all pro- 
bability in the court of Miako that they 
became acquainted with the Jesuits, and 
it was there also, in the year 1568, that 
they both embraced the Christian faith, 
which they unswervingly professed to 
the end of their lives. In that same year 
they also consecrated their child to God — 
he being then five years old —giving him 
at the regenerating fountain the name of 
Paul. Thus did grace take up its abode 
in that innocent soul, even in his tenderest 
years, and thus did it watch over the days 
of his childhood, a period of life exposed 
to many dangers in those regions wh^re 
idolatry was so universal, every vice so con- 
tagious, and most of all, that of lascivious- 
ness. The special providence of Heaven, 
and the tender solicitude of his pious 
parents caused the little Paul to increase 
in years and in the holy fear of God ; for, 
even at that early period of his life, he 



4 LIVES OF THE 

was singularly remarkable for the fervour 
of his devotion, gravity, and modesty of 
demeanour, amiability of manners, sub- 
mission, and obedience. 

At length his parents finding that they 
could not devote sufficient time- to the 
instruction of their child — the mother 
being constantly occupied with household 
affairs, and the father almost always in 
the camp or in the court — made up their 
minds to confide his education in piety 
and learning to Father Organ tino Soldi, 
who was then in Miako, and who may be 
justly styled the father of Christianity in 
that distant region ; for he was, indeed, a 
man of most holy life and glowing zeal, 
of whom his native city, Brescia, has 
reason to be proud, but more so still the 
Society of Jesus, that was his parent, and 
sent him to Japan, where he was employed 
thirty-six years in the constant labours 
of the apostolic ministry. This holy man 
willingly undertook to educate Paul, then 
a youth in his eleventh year, and kept him 
for some time under his immediate care, 
till at length he found opportunity of 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 



placing him, -with other boys of noble 
birth, in a seminary or boarding house, 
which he had founded and opened, and 
which worked admirably for the diffusion 
of the faith. 



II. 



HIS EDUCATION IX THE SEMINARY OF THE NOBLES 
IN ANZUCIAMA. 

The emperor Nobunanga, to immorta- 
lise his name, had erected from the 
foundations a new city and fortress in 
Anzuciama, a most delightful region, 
situated on the frontier of the kingdom 
of Yoari, and within about fourteen 
leagues of Miako. The Christians of 
that city justly thought, that it would be 
an inestimable advantage to the faith, if 
the Fathers of the Society would be 
allowed to open a church and residence 
in that new seat of royalty, where the 
princes and chiefs of more than thirty 
districts, subjects to Nobunanga, were in 



b LIVES OF THE 

the habit of meeting and residing the 
greater part of the year. Conscious of 
the great good that would result from 
such a state of things, they, therefore, 
begged Father Organtino to present a 
memorial to the emperor (who, for some 
time back, had shown himself rather 
well affected to the Christian law), em- 
bodying their wishes for leave to erect 
a church and dwelling-house. The good 
father had an audience of Nobunanga, 
and got from that monarch far more 
than what he asked — a large subsidy in 
money and a site for the sacred edifice, 
which the emperor directed to be built 
opposite to his own palace. This con- 
cession obtained, Father Organtino im- 
mediately took asunder a large wooden 
house that he had raised at Miako, and 
with the assistance of the Christians — 
multitudes of whom willingly gave their 
services — he transported it to Anzuciama, 
and with it twenty-five noble youths, 
among them Paul Michi, whom he had 
already selected for his seminary. These 
were soon joined by others — many of 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 7 

them of royal blood — who, being pro- 
vided with experienced masters and teach- 
ers, commenced to study the Latin and 
Japanese languages, devoting themselves 
at the same time to serving in the church, 
and to other works of singular piety and 
devotion. In fact, such was the repu- 
tation of these holy youths, that they 
attracted many of the principal men of 
the country to visit them frequently, nay, 
and to hold conferences with the Fathers 
concerning God and their souls. When- 
ever the seminarists went out two by two 
into the streets, the people crowded after 
them admiring them, and thanking heaven 
for the sight of such modesty and de- 
corum; so much so, that Nobunanga 
himself — forgetful, as it were, of the more 
than human pride in which he was habi- 
tually wrapped — often visited the semi- 
nary, accompanied by a small retinue, 
and, with condescension never shown 
even to the most exalted of his courtiers, 
conversed with the pupils, who welcomed 
him with an exhibition of their advance- 
ment in various branches of knowledge, 



8 LIVES OF THE 

and the harmonious sounds of foreign 
instruments, on which they had been 
taught to perform. 

Owing to such favourable auspices all^ 
these youths, but two particularly, were 
enabled to render great services towards 
propagating the faith, and these were 
Jerom, son of the prince of Fungo, ne- 
phew of the holy king Francis of Bungo, 
and our Paul Michi. Jerom had been 
selected to go to Rome in the quality of 
chief ambassador to tender obedience to 
the Holy See, but as the ships were on the 
point of sailing before he could possibly 
reach the port of Nangasasky, Ito Mantio, 
his cousin, was substituted in his stead. 
The latter subsequently adopted the mili- 
tary profession, and distinguished himself 
highly by his valorous exploits ; but far more 
glorious is his name in the church of 
Japan for his most exemplary Christian 
life, and the invincible fidelity with which 
he clung to the faith to the latest moment 
of his life. Paul, who was of gentler 
nature, showed a decided vocation for the 
ecclesiastical state, and was constantly 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 9 

intent on acquiring knowledge and piety, 
in order that he might be enabled to 
devote himself entirely to God and the 
salvation of souls. In course of time 
his holy aspirations were realised ; and 
here let us remark, that if the noble 
college of Anzuciama, during its short- 
lived existence, had produced only these 
two zealous champions of the faith, it 
would deserve to be regarded as having 
eminent claims on the gratitude of the 
Japanese Church. 



III. 

PAUL RUNS GREAT RISES OF HIS LIFE DURING 
THE SACK OF ANZUCIAMA — HE PURSUES HIS 
STUDIES. 

Paul had not been two years in Anzu- 
ciama when an occurrence took place 
which changed the whole state of civil 
affairs, and was near involving him, his 
companions, and the Jesuit Fathers in 
most imminent peril of their lives. 

b 2 



10 LIVES OF THE 

Let us narrate the facts. Acheci, 
prince of a small territory, having, 
through motives of ambition, rebelled 
against Nobunanga, entered Miako with 
the flower of his army on the night of 
the 20th of June, 1582, and suddenly 
surrounding Nobunanga's palace, pro- 
ceeded with a band of conspirators to 
assassinate the emperor. The latter, 
however, having sometime before been 
wounded, fled to hide himself in a secret 
chamber where, in order to escape the 
ignominy of falling into the hands of 
his enemies after death, he set fire to the 
palace, then inflicted a mortal wound 
on his abdomen, and died of self-murder. 
After taking Miako, the rebels marched 
on Anzuciama, which they had hardly 
reached when the garrison surrendered 
to them on conditions and the citizens at 
discretion. It may be imagined how 
desperate was the condition of our reli- 
gious at that period, when the soldiery 
were scouring the streets killing all who 
came in their way, and the fire which 
broke out in various quarters was destroy- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 11 

ing the ill-fated city. Abandoning the 
Residence, Father Organtino took our 
Paul and the other students along with 
him to the shore of the lake that spread 
out before the palace, and with great 
difficulty succeeded in hiring a boat. This, 
however, was only exchanging one danger 
for another; for, as they had entrusted 
themselves to an idolatrous robber, who 
was owner of the boat, and who rowed 
them to Vachimoscima, a little island ten 
miles up the lake, the perfidious villain, 
regardless of his word, there robbed them 
of everything they had, and was prepar- 
ing to carry them off to another uninha- 
bited island, doubtless, with the intention 
of murdering them all. But God's 
special providence watched over those 
twenty-eight souls ; for, a Christian noble- 
man, as it were inspired by heaven, 
hastened in an armed vessel to their 
rescue, and taking them out of the rob- 
ber's hands brought them to Sacomote, 
where, through a merciful dispensation, 
they got a written protection from one 
of Acheci's sons, and a page who acted as 



12 LIVES OF THE 

guide till they arrived, after many hair- 
breadth escapes, safely in Miako. 

During all these bitter trials nothing 
could be more admirable than the tran- 
quillity and collectedness of Paul, who, 
instead of seeking a sure asylum under 
his parents' roof, as he might have done, 
preferred rather, for the love of Christ, 
to share the fortunes of the Fathers, 
among whom it was his dearest wish to 
be enrolled. He remained but a short 
time in Miako; for, about twelve days 
after Nobunanga's death, the traitor 
Acheci was routed and slain by Guisto 
Ucondono, prince of Tacatzuchi, and a 
most zealous Christian, who caused the 
seminary to be removed to his country. 
Paul, therefore, proceeded thither to 
resume his studies. His chiefest and 
most delightful pursuit Iwas to indoctri- 
nate himself profoundly in the mysteries 
of the faith, and familiarize himself with 
everything that concerned the apostolic 
ministry. Such, also, was the grand 
object of the Fathers in training the 
youths committed to their care — in other 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 13 

words, to make them catechists, clerics, 
Jay brothers, and priests, who, in course 
of time, would be able to diffuse the 
faith, and confute the errors of the idola- 
trous sectaries. The master who had 
charge of these youths was one of our 
Japanese lay brothers, named Vincent, a 
most profound reasoner, who, by dint of 
long study, had so completely mastered 
the secret theology of the Bonzes, or 
idalatrous priests, that many of the most 
learned of the latter and their pupils 
came from far off regions and their most 
renowned schools, to confer with him. 
Many of them returned to their respec- 
tive countries Christians, and from slaves 
of error and superstition became teachers 
of the faith. It is easy to imagine how 
great was the progress which Paul made 
under such a system of training; and, 
indeed, his after-life proved that he 
became one of the most powerful orators 
and able apologists that the Jesuits had in 
Japan. During his sojourn in Tacatzuchi, 
and afterwards in Arima — whither, on 
account of more recent revolutions, the 



14 LIVES OF THE 

Fathers were obliged to remove the semi- 
nary — he would accompany the priests on 
their missions, catechizing the neophytes, 
engaging the Bonzes in controversy, and 
occasionally, as we find it recorded, recit- 
ing his sermons in the church with a 
graceful eloquence, that might not have 
been expected from one so young. 



IV. 

HE ENTERS THE SOCIETT OF JESUS, AND APPLIES 
HIMSELF TO THE ACQUIREMENT OF HUMAN 
AND DIVINE KNOWLEDGE. 

A soul so well inclined, was not des- 
tined for worldly pursuits; and Paul's 
dearest ambition was to be received into 
our Society, from whose Superiors he 
begged this boon with never-ceasing im- 
portunity. They, however, had to act 
with great caution, nor could they be 
induced to receive the Japanese into 
the Order till they had been well tested 
and trained under their own eyes in the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 15 

duties of catechists. Pauls case, how- 
ever, was one of peculiar character; 
for, he had been baptized in childhood, 
educated in' our seminaries, reared 
by our missionaries, and then the death 
of his father, Fandoidono, who fell 
gloriously in this year (1586) fighting 
under the banner of Francis, king of 
Bungo, against Satzuma (an idolator); 
determined the Fathers to comply with his 
pious request. He was, therefore, re- 
ceived into the Society, and in the 
August of the same year (1586), he 
was sent to our novitiate of All Saints, 
near Nangasasky, having then attained 
his twenty-second year. 

Henceforth, his grand aim was to 
strengthen himself with these solid vir- 
tues which he would be called upon to 
exercise at every moment of his life, 
amid the labors and trials of that most 
arduous mission. And, indeed, he found 
occasion to bring them into action in 
less than eleven months' time, when 
Cambacudono, who usurped the empire 
after Nobunanga's demise, infuriated by 



16 LIVES OF THE 

a malignant Bonze, all of a sudden be- 
came an implacable enemy to the Chris- 
tians, whom he had hitherto regarded 
with favor, and issued a proclamation 
commanding all the ministers of the 
Gospel to. quit his territories. At that 
period the Jesuits were the only mis- 
sionaries in Japan, and numbered about 
one hundred and twenty, besides a great 
multitude of catechists whom they had 
in training. Father Gaspar Coeglio, then 
Viceprovincial, seeing things come to this 
pass, immediately consulted the Christian 
kings and princes; and, acting on the 
advice of the most experienced of them, 
resolved — in order that the barbarous 
Cambacudono might not become more 
exasperated* — to make a display of sub- 
mission, and accordingly lost no time in 
assembling a crowd of the converts at 
the harbour of Firando, as though they 
were ready to embark. His object, how- 
ever, was to disperse them hither and 
thither in various places, dressed in the 
ordinary Japanese costume, that they 
might thus circumspectly keep the faith 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 17 

alive in those one hundred and fifty 
thousand Christians, whom we had then 
in the country, and for] whose weal he 
prescribed salutary regulations. They 
did as he advised them, betaking them- 
— selves to this and that quarter, as circum- 
stances suggested, and our Paul with 
his brother novices, sought refuge in 
Arie, a small territory some distance 
from Arima. 

At the close of the two years' noviciate, 
in the August of 1588, having conse- 
crated himself to God by the three vows 
of poverty, chastity, and obedience, he 
was sent to the island of Amacusa, where, 
under the protection of John, prince of 
that region, we had then a flourishing 
university for our young students. Here 
he revised the entire course through 
which he had gone in the seminaries, and, 
as Heaven had blessed him with won- 
derful intellectual powers, he applied 
himself to the study of philosophy and 
theology, speculative, moral, and contro- 
versial. Nor should we omit mentioning 
that he devoted a considerable amount of 



18 LIVES OF THE 

time and unwearied diligence to perusing 
the superstitious works of the numerous 
sects with which Japan swarms ; his grand 
object being to condense their errors and 
contradictions, and to write treatises which 
would expose the one and confute the 
other, and supply him with arguments 
whenever he might have to dispute with 
the idolators and Bonzes. 



HIS MISSIONARY LABOURS AND APOSTOLIC 

PREACHING. 

Having completed his course of studies, 
and armed himself at all points with 
virtue and learning, Paul at length set 
out to commence the work on which he 
had set his heart, namely, to gain souls to 
Christ. He was thoroughly master of 
the Japanese language, not only of the 
vulgar vernacular, but also of the learned 
idiom in which the upper classes converse ; 
and so profound was his knowledge of it 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 19 

that he made himself master of all its 
peculiarities, elegancies and pronuncia- 
tion — things which foreigners find it 
almost impossible to acquire, even after 
many years of unwearied and incessant 
study. He was also blessed with a 
gift of natural eloquence and grace of 
diction peculiarly his own, which, deriving 
additional power from his piety and 
angelic modesty, charmed, convinced, and 
softened the hearts of all those who con- 
versed with him. His first essay was in 
the capacity of catechist, when our 
Fathers appointed him to instruct the 
neophytes in the mysteries of the faith, 
till he was gradually promoted to the 
office of preacher. The earliest field of 
his labors was Scimo, that is, the territory 
and islands situated in the south, and 
1 principally the kingdom of Arima, and 
the principality of Omura, where there 
was a vast congregation of Christians 
Proceeding thence northwards, he visited 
many regions before he arrived at Miako, 
whence he journeyed fully two hundred 
miles to the remotest confines of Japan. 



20 LIVES OF THE 

He was always accompanied by one or 
more of our priests. His duty was to 
preach, instruct, dispute, and prepare the 
converts for baptism, and that of the 
priests to administer the sacrament of 
penance, celebrate the holy sacrifice, 
solemnize marriages, and comfort the 
dying." It would be impossible to describe 
all he had to endure in these long jour- 
neys, or to recount the ever-recurring 
dangers which beset him. All, however, 
were as nothing in his eyes compared to 
the rich and abundant harvest which lay 
before him. It is well known that he was 
greatly esteemed and loved by the idola- 
trous princes and chieftains, and that he 
converted very many of them to the faith 
of Jesus Christ, particularly in the king- 
doms of the Mori. Letters written from 
that quarter state that our holy faith, 
during the course of the forty-five years 
since its first introduction into Japan by 
St. Francis Xavier, had never made such 
progress as that which was witnessed in 
1593, and the two following years, 
whether we regard the numbers of the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 21 

converts, their exalted social position, or 
the many kingdoms to which their re- 
spective potentates invited our mission- 
aries. That the labours of our holy martyr, 
Paul, contributed largely to bring about 
^auch numerous and important conversions, 
appears not only from the testimony of 
the Jesuit writers, but also from the state- 
ment of Father Marcellus Ribadeneira, 
of the order of St. Francis, who visited 
Japan, was personally acquainted with 
Paul Michi, and has left on record that his 
energetic exertions produced more abun- 
dant fruit than fell to the share of any 
other. 

As an evidence of the power and 
efficacy of his preaching, we will here 
mention a single fact which has been well 
authenticated. In the city of Ozaca an 
unfortunate criminal — an idolator — was 
sentenced to death, and as he was on the 
way to the place of execution, it so 
happened that our saint made his appear- 
ance. Inflamed w T ith desire to impart 
eternal life to the individual who was 
about to lose the temporal, he forced his 



22 LIVES OV THE 

way through the crowd and soldiery, and 
going up the condemned, commenced 
discoursing with him energetically of the 
never-ending pains which await those who 
do not adore the true God of the Christians, 
and then of the necessity of believing in 
Jesus Christ and being baptized, in order 
to obtain everlasting salvation of the 
soul. This forcible appeal, so generous 
and so holy, with the aid of divine grace, 
made due impression on the heart of the 
unhappy culprit who, on the instant, 
acknowledged that truth had triumphed 
over him. Paul instructed him as well 
as he could on the way to the place 
of execution, and no sooner had the 
convert been baptised, than he submitted 
willingly to his fate ; and thus, as we have 
reason to believe, secured the salvation of 
his regenerated soul. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 23 



VI. 

HIS WRITINGS AND PUBLICATIONS IN DEFENCE 
OF THE FAITH. 

Nor was it only with word of mouth that 
Paul contributed to the propagation of the 
faith. Quite the contrary, indeed ; for, his 
pen was employed for the same grand 
object. Thoroughly conversant as he was 
with the language and peculiar style of 
writing in use among the Japanese, and 
equally well skilled in the theological 
system of the Bonzes, he composed a 
book that, in elegant diction, exposed 
the vanity of idols and the errors of the 
Japanese sects — which, contrasted with the 
holy and true law of Christ, are nothing 
more than a jumble of fables, errors, 
contradictions, principles, and maxims, 
repugnant to right reason and natural 
decency. At that period the principal 
sects which sowed the tares of vice and 
error among the Japanese were twelve in 
number, each of them having schools, 



24 LIVES OF THE 

temples, priests, and preachers. Paul 
confuted them all one after the other, 
proving to them, at the same time, the 
monstrous absurdities of the Canonical 
Book of Japan, which they attribute to 
Sciaca, an idol held in greatest veneration 
by the mass of the people. These works 
were first circulated in manuscript ; but as 
soon as Father Alexander Valegnani, 
Visitator of the East, introduced the 
printing press, they were published for 
general circulation. Thus was our Paul 
the first of the Japanese, who wrote and 
published works in defence of Chris- 
tianity, and hence it is that he is men- 
tioned in the catalogue of our writers as 
an author of polemic theology. The 
acts of canonization declare, that by this 
means he gained innumerable souls to 
the faith ; for he thus extended his zeal 
to places where he could not be bodily 
present, nay, and to future times long 
after his glorious death. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 25 

VII. 

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS RELIGIOUS VIRTUES. 

The zeal with which Paul labored by- 
voice and pen to propagate the Christian 
__ religion among his Japanese compatriots, 
was further enhanced by the efficacy 
and example of his religious virtues. I 
will not say much on this head, in order 
to avoid prolixity. Notwithstanding the 
distractions attendant on his mission, he 
was always in close communion with God ; 
and of this intimacy he was wont to speak 
with tenderness truly affecting, and, in- 
deed, with fervor of spirit. After his 
long and wearisome missionary journeys, 
he was in the habit of resting himself 
(according to the rule prescribed by- 
Father Valegnani, visitator of the East) 
in some one of our residences ; and here for 
many days his devout soul was still more 
intensely inflamed by protracted medita- 
tions and austere penances. Grave and 
modest in his deportment, he was amiable 
and affable in his intercourse with all 



26 LIVES OF THE 

who approached him. So much so, in- 
deed (as ocular witnesses have testified), 
that he succeeded in overcoming the pre- 
judices and winning the affections of the 
idolatrous Bonzes ; nay, and even of those 
who were most opposed to the law of 
Christ. The Japanese are notorious for 
two vices — inveterate in their nature — 
craft, and dissimulation; so much so, 
that Father Valegnani, in one of his letters 
to our General, speaks of that benighted 
people thus : — " Two things I find most 
intolerable in Japan ; one is to have to do 
with people who neverj have on their 
lips what they have in their heart ; and 
all of them are brought up from child- 
hood in that system, and none more so 
than the upper classes, who deem lying 
a virtue, and glory in being able to 
deceive, in order that no one may 
discover what they intend or wish." 
How different was Paul! That candor 
that was in his heart was always on his 
lips ; for, indeed, he was at all times and 
in all circumstances, honest and guileless. 
He was indifferent about his life, always 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 27 

provided that it might be the means of 
gaining a soul to Christ; and what is 
more, nothing could excel his patience 
in the midst of sufferings and trials, in- 
separable from the apostolic ministry; 
but never so much so as in the time 
of persecution. " Praise to God," writes 
one who lived at that period and in that 
land, " our life is like that which the 
Apostle describes ; for, we go about clothed 
in skins, afflicted, persecuted, wandering 
through forests and valleys, and seeking 
refuge in the caverns of the earth. No rest 
by night, for it is spent in visiting our con- 
verts, preaching to them, and administer- 
ing the Sacraments. When day comes, 
we hide ourselves as well as we can, 
or, at all events, keep away from the 
inhabited regions." And this, indeed, is 
but a faint picture of the life which our 
Paul had to lead for many a year during 
the first persecution inflicted on the Chris- 
tians by king Taicosama, But to be short, 
I will now confine myself to laying before 
the reader the elegant eulogium which 
Father Marcellus Ribadeneira, already 



28 LIVES OF THE 

mentioned, has pronounced on our Paul, in 
his history of the Archipelago: — " I have 
known him," says that writer, ".to be a 
man most observant of silence and 
modesty. His every act clearly proved 
how admirably he realised in practice all 
that religious perfection he imbibed 
during the eleven years he lived in the 
Society. The Christians regarded this 
holy martyr as a most efficient preacher ; 
and it was almost proverbial among them 
that he did more 'for the faith than any 
of his colleagues : for, his zeal did not 
show itself so much in words as in results. 
The Fathers of the Society always spoke 
of him as a good and humble labourer in 
the missionary field ; one, in a word, who 
sought nothing but the salvation of his 
neighbours' souls and his own advancement 
in virtue." As Paul had now entered 
on his thirty-third year, the time arrived 
when he was to be ordained priest by the 
bishop of Japan, Peter Martinez (of the 
Society of Jesus), w 7 ho landed in that 
country in the year 1596 ; but before our 
martyr's aspirations could be gratified, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 29 

God decreed that instead of a priest he 
should become a victim, offered to Christ 
on the altar of the cross, and venerated 
as a martyr by the same bishop in the 
city of Nangasasky, as we will relate 
after having said something of the lives 
of the two other saints. 



VII. 

LIFE OF THE HOLY MARTYR JOHN SOAN, OR DE 

GOTO — HIS COUNTRY AND BIRTH GOES INTO 

VOLUNTARY EXILE FOR THE FAITH. 

Goto is a group of islands which, in their 
entirety constitute a kingdom. They may 
be said to almost join each other, as there 
is but a mile and a-half of an inlet from 
the sea flowing between each of them. 
These islands are situated some fifty 
leagues from Firando. The whole of 
that region is sterile and bare, although it 
abounds in living springs and a good tract 
of it is covered with dense forests. 
Withal, as the Japenese can subsist on 
little, it has its towns on the level lands 

c 2 



30 LIVES OF THE 

and in the mountain ranges there is a 
numerous population. Ozaca the royal 
residence, is situated on the sea side, in a 
very delightful spot ; and the city itself, 
after the fashion of that country, may be 
said to be magnificent. The faith was 
introduced into that region by two of our 
catechists, Louis Almeida, a Portuguese, 
and one Laurence, a Japanese, who were 
succeeded by Fathers Monti, of Ferrara, 
Alexander Valla, of Lombardy, and 
Joseph Fornaletti, a Venetian, who was 
put to death (in odium of the faith) by 
poison. On the conversion, however, of 
prince Louis, lord of that region, all its 
inhabitants received baptism. 

It was in one of these islands that our 
holy young martyr, John, was born, in 
1578, of parents who had been converted 
to the faith, and who, as I think, were 
amongst the first to embrace it. Soan was 
his paternal cognomen; but as there 
were, probably, other catechists of the 
same name, I find him always called 
de Goto, from the kingdom of which he 
was a native. Educated in the Christian 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 31 

religion by his parents, and instructed in 
the mysteries of the faith by the Fathers 
of the Society, who were preaching in 
these islands, he grew up in the holy 
fear of God, and in the exercise of all 
virtues. On the death, however, of 
Prince Louis, one of his brothers, a most 
^fanatical idolator, deeming it a favorable 
opportunity, collected a force, and wrested 
the kingdom from the legitimate succes- 
sor, a mere child, and who was also called 
Louis. Far from being satisfied with usur- 
pation, this unbeliever, instigated by the 
Bonzes, • raged fearfully against the 
Christians, many of whom, the most 
distinguished and wealthy, not being any 
longer allowed to practise their religion 
in their own country, went into voluntary 
exile, and among them the family of 
Soan. John, therefore, accompanied his 
parents to Nangasasky, a city then almost 
entirely Christian, situated on the sea 
shore, and within the states of Omura. 
Here the Society had a residence and a 
church, and the Christians were permitted 
to exercise their religion openly by a new 



32 LIVES OF THE 

concession from Taicosama, who did not 
deem it politic to disgust the Portuguese, 
who made the place an entreport for their 
traffic with India and China. The child 
being thus provided with greater aids for 
his soul's advancement, made wonderful 
progress in virtue, and gave an unmis- 
takable proof of proficiency by withdraw- 
ing altogether from the world, in order 
that he might consecrate himself to God. 



VIII. 

ASKS TO BE RECEIVED INTO THE SOCIETY. iS 

MADE CATECHIST. — SYSTEM OF SELECTING THEM, 
HIS LABOURS WITH FATHER PETER DE MORECON. 

Constant intercourse with the Fathers 
stimulated him to imitate their lives ; so 
much so, indeed, that, when little more 
than fifteen years of age, he besought the 
Viceprovincial to receive him into the 
order. His request was, in some measure, 
granted, for he was enrolled among the 
catechists, which was the first step, and 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 33 

the first probation, in order to be received 
as a religious. To the end that we may- 
appreciate the dignity and status of the 
catechists, it is necessary to observe that, 
with a view to render that office more 
desirable, and those who exercise it more 
venerable, as a class engaged in a holy 
work, the Fathers had instituted, if I 
may so express myself, a solemn form of 
ordaining them, with a ceremony like 
that used when giving the habit to reli- 
gious. The selected persons, therefore, 
or accepted, were either boys not under 
ten years of age, or youths more ad- 
vanced, not excluding men of riper years, 
who were single. The qualifications re- 
quired were holiness of life, fervent zeal, 
intellectual ability, and good reasoning 
capabilities ; while, at the same time, the 
Fathers set great value on those who 
abandoned their homes and parents, in 
order to consecrate themselves to God. 
Indeed, many of those whose fathers and 
mothers were living were presented by 
the latter to the service of the Church on 
some festival day. When the congrega- 



34 LIVES OF THE 

tion had assembled, the superior sang 
Mass, the Portuguese and seminarists 
(whenever they could be had) performing 
the sacred music; and after the Gospel 
one of the Fathers ascended the pulpit, 
and discoursed on the holy ministry of 
instructing heathens in the faith, or on 
some similar subject, and the virtues 
that should distinguish those who were 
anxious to exercise it worthily. The 
sermon concluded, the music was re- 
sumed, and the new catechist, kneeling at 
the foot of the altar, cut off, with his own 
hand, that tuft of hair which the Japanese 
wear on the crown of the head, and turn 
backwards ; for, to go without it is with 
them a sign that they have renounced the 
world. Then, being stripped of secu- 
lar attire, they were clothed in a long 
robe, somewhat like our own, and thence- 
forth they lived among us, having stated 
hours for daily prayer, examination of 
conscience, and certain days during the 
month for frequenting the sacraments. 
They were also to assist the Father who 
had charge of them in instructing the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 35 

newly made converts. Meanwhile their 
conduct was well watched, and their pro- 
ficiency recorded in order to decide their 
fitness for the duty which nearly all of 
them were willing to embrace. After 
having gone through this probation, John, 
although still very young, was duly ad- 
mitted among the catechists; and his 
"^parents, who were admirable Christians, 
not only willingly presented him to the 
Church, but thought themselves su- 
premely happy in having such a son. 
And indeed, as it were, to crown their 
joy, they had, a few years afterwards, 
the ineffable delight of seeing him a 
glorious Martyr of Jesus Christ, and 
thus obtained that consolation which 
we will have occasion to mention here- 
after. Having been appointed as pupil 
and companion to Father Peter de Mo- 
recon (a truly zealous missionary), he 
went with him to the island of Scichi, 
and there dwelt a long time instructing 
children in the rudiments of the faith. 
From thence he accompanied the same 
Father to Ozaca, where we had a residence 



36 LIVES OF THE 

in which were, at that period, Father 
Organtino, Paul Michi, and James Chisai. 
The example and conversation of these 
experienced men, intensified little John's 
zeal, and he exerted himself to the 
utmost of his power in the salvation 
of souls. Indeed, the harvest was abun- 
dant in that region; for, there was a 
vast number of Christians there even in 
the imperial court itself; so much so, 
that the great officers of state and other 
princes coming thither, offered themselves 
and their subjects for baptism. But 
notwithstanding this auspicious state of 
things, persecution blasted our fairest hopes 
and led to the martyrdom of John, who 
was then only nineteen years of age. 
Heaven, however, granted him the hap- 
piness of meeting in Ozaca Peter Mar- 
tinez, bishop of Japan, who administered 
to him and many others the sacrament of 
Confirmation. Strengthened and en- 
lightened by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
he was thus providentially enabled to main- 
tain the faith of Jesus Christ, and to sacri- 
fice his life for that inestimable blessing. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 37 



x. 



THE LIFE OF THE HOLY MARTYR JAMES CHISAI. 
BORN AND REARED A HEATHEN, HE IS CON- 
VERTED TO THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST. HE 

MARRIES AND REPUDIATES HIS WIFE ON ACCOUNT 
OF HER APOSTACT FROM THE FAITH. 

James Chisai was somewhat older than 
John, and was born in the kingdom of 
Bigen. in the year 1533. It is indubitable 
that his parents were heathens, and that 
he himself was involved in the same errors 
till he attained his sixteenth year. It 
would appear that his childhood was 
passed (as is usual in Japan) in some 
Bonze educational establishment, where 
he acquired that singular elegance for 
which he was so distinguished in writing' 
the Japanese characters. We may here 
observe that this remarkable people have 
no alphabet like ours, whose letters com- 
bined form various words ; but, on the con- 
trary, they express everything by a charac- 
ter peculiarly its own, and that is inappli- 
cable to anything else. These characters 

B 



38 LIVES OF THE 

resemble curved and right lines huddled 
indiscriminately together, and are so com- 
plicated that it is all but impossible, even 
though they were less numerous, to pre- 
serve any recollection of the strange and 
fantastic form they exhibit ; and yet they 
amount to some thousands. This, however, 
was the total of all that Chisai could learn 
from the Bonzes — a most pestilent class 
and deeply dyed in every obscene vice. 

The memoirs that have come down to 
us say nothing of the precise time or year 
in which he arrived at the knowledge of 
the true God, and was baptized. Father 
Louis Froes calls him a very old Christian ; 
and this designation, according to the 
usage of the times in which he wrote, 
meant those who were either baptized by 
the apostle St. Francis Xavier, or by the 
two companions whom he left in Japan 
when about to return to India. Certain it 
is, that he received at baptism the name 
of James, or Diego, which are synonymous 
among the Spaniards. Being advanced in 
life, he married a convert, and had of her 
a son, whom he called John, Some time 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 39 

subsequently this unhappy woman was 
perverted by the Bonzes, lost the little 
sense she had, abjured Christ, and relapsed 
into idolatry. James exerted every means 
in his power to reclaim her from her exe- 
crable apostacy ; but finding that prayer 
and argument could not remove her obsti- 
jnate prejudices, he turned her out of his 
house, and separated himself from her by 
a legitimate divorce. 



XI. 

HE RENOUNCES THE WORLD, AND GOES TO LIVE 

WITH THE FATHERS OF THE SOCIETY AS 

CATECHIST. — HIS TENDER DEVOTION TO THE 
PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Thus released from every worldly tie, 
James bethought him of uniting himself 
more closely with God, and in fulfilment 
of a long-cherished desire to devote him- 
self as best he could to a more perfect 
life in the Society. Having, therefore, 
arranged all domestic affairs, and placed 
his son, as I think, in one of our semina- 



40 LIVES OF THE 

lies, he requested to be admitted among 
our Catechists. His prayer was granted ; 
and here let us observe that he and the 
holy martyr John, are not to be con- 
founded with mere laybrothers or as we 
call them temporal coadjutors, to which 
grade they did not belong. This is placed 
beyond all doubt by the catalogue of 
informations which the superiors in Japan 
sent annually to the General, and also 
by the Bollanclists., who say that Father 
Mutio Vitelleschi caused to be sup- 
pressed all printed documents in which 
these holy martyrs were styled laybro- 
thers. Our James was therefore a Dogico 
or catechist, and consequently ranked 
among those who were promoted to the 
study of languages, or of the more ad- 
vanced sciences till being sufficiently pro- 
vided with knowledge, and strengthened 
in virtue, they were either ordained priests 
or from choice remained catechists to the 
end of their lives. In fine, a long report 
sent to Rome by Father Gomez, Vice- 
provincial, states that, James laboured 
many years with fervent spirit and untir- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 41 

ing zeal for the conversion of the heathens, 
preparing them for the sacrament of bap- 
tism. 

True it certainly is, that being some- 
what advanced in years, and a man of 
singular humility, he took special pleasure 
in performing the lowliest duties in our 
houses. Hence it was that in Ozaca 
— where he passed the latest years of his 
life — he was employed to receive strangers 
at the gate, and to lodge guests — an office, 
which he performed with that courtesy 
and urbanity so peculiar to the Japanese, 
and with that charity that so well becomes 
a true Christian, Every spare hour he 
had was devoted to meditation of our 
Lord's Passion ; and so tender was his 
devotion to this great mystery, that he 
derived from it renewed vigour, which 
enabled him to act the part of a truly 
sanctified man. Thoroughly familiar with 
the Japanese style of writing, he tran- 
scribed in that character the entire history 
of our Saviours Passion ; and this work of 
his, making a large volume, is truly beau- 
tiful for its illuminations, variety of 



42 LIVES OF THE MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 

characters and exquisitely coloured minia- 
tures, finished with a master hand. And 
this book was his sole treasure— a rich 
pasture on which he fed his contemplative 
mind — a picture which he had ever before 
his corporeal eye of the Redeemer's suf- 
ferings. It also supplied him with good 
arguments to excite virtuous emotions in 
those who visited the residence to confer 
with the Fathers. In this sort of life he 
attained his sixty-fourth year, when it 
pleased God to exalt him to the honor of 
martyrdom, and to make him still more 
resemble his divine model, for love of 
whom he died on a cross. 



SECOND PART. 



PASSION AND DEATH 

OF THE 

THEEE HOLY MAETYRS. 
I. 

FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN 

CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR TAICOSAMA. 

Coming now to the passion and death of 
the three holy martyrs, whose lives we 
have briefly described, it is necessary that 
we should go back to an earlier period, 
in order that the reader may be made ac- 
quainted with the causes which originated 
this first general persecution of Chris- 
tianity in Japan. The Apostle St. Francis 
Xavier was the first to carry the light of 
the Gospel into that country, where he 
arrived in the year 1549, on the aus- 
picious day of the Blessed Virgin's 
Assumption. Quitting those shores, he 
left behind him, to tend and cultivate the 
Lord's vineyard, Father Cosimo Torres 
and Brother John Fernandez, who accom- 



44 LIVES OF THE 

panied him from India. As the harvest 
increased other zealous men hastened 
to their assistance; and portioning out 
among themselves those vast regions, 
which they traversed from centre to 
circumference, they performed miracles 
of zeal, converting kings and people 
to the law of Christ. The first among 
the princes to embrace it was Sciu- 
metanda, lord of Omura, whose exam- 
ple . was soon followed by Givan, king 
of Bungo, and four or five other princi- 
palities, and finally the king of Arima. 
These were the potentates who, as we 
have already said, sent ambassadors to 
Rome to tender their obedience to the 
Holy See.* During the reign of Nobu- 
nanga, whose victorious army conquered 

* The embassy mentioned in. 'the text reached 
Rome a short time before the death of Gregory XIII. 
who, on receiving the Japanese, exclaimed: "Nunc 
dimittis servum tiuvm Domine !" His successor, 
Sixtus Quintus, (who was crowned in 1585) treated 
the ambassadors with the greatest honor ; and sent 
them back to their own country after a sojourn of 
some months in Spain and Italy. 'Tis said that they 
took two years to make the journey to Europe ; and 
they were all under the guidance of Father Valeg- 
nani, who returned with them to Japan. The king 
of Bungo was baptized by St. Francis Xavier.— 
Translator. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 45. 

more than one-half of Japan, the religion 
of Jesus Christ was wonderfully propa- 
gated in that distant region. After Nobu- 
nanga's death and that of the rebel Acheci, 
another adventurer, Fasciba Chicodono, 
usurped the empire. Born in the king- 
dom of Mino, of parents in the humblest 
circumstances, he earned a living by fel- 
"Tlno; wood in the forests, and selling it for 
fuel in the city. Tiring of this sort of 
life, he resolved to strike out a new des- 
tiny for himself, and throwing down the 
woodman's axe for the sword, he performed 
prodigies of valour, and began to ascend 
at a rapid pace from the lowliest grade to 
the climax of military honours, and w r as 
finally made commander-in-chief of the 
imperial armies. Finding Japan in a state 
of anarchy after Acheci's death, he dexter- 
ously seized the opportunity which was 
thus given him, and to such good account 
did he turn it that, after getting rid of 
Nobunanga's children and other adversa- 
ries who ambitioned supreme power, he, 
in less than a year, consolidated the Ja- 
panese under one monarchy, the kings and 
chief nobility of the country casting them- 



46 LIVES OF THE 

selves like trembling vassals at his feet. 
He now assumed his old name, Fasciba, 
till 1585, when, as it were to make peo- 
ple forget his origin, he took the title of 
Cambacudono, which signifies the ark of 
treasure. At length, in the year 1592, he 
abdicated, in favour of his nephew, the 
dignity of Cambacu, and adopted the more 
august designation of Taicosama, or su- 
preme monarch. During his sixteen years' 
reign he was the Tiberius of Japan — a 
foul beast in his habits and a cruel tyrant 
in his government. Religion he had none ; 
for he did not believe in the existence of 
God. He alternately persecuted and fa- 
voured the Bonzes and the idols ; nay, at 
one time he loved the Christians and their 
religion, but that love was speedily turned 
into hatred, and he persecuted them re- 
morselessly. This conduct should not be 
attributed to mere caprice or inconstancy 
of purpose; for, Taicosama was always 
guided by one fixed principle, namely, to 
avail himself of every circumstance that 
promoted his own sordid interests. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 47 



II. 

taicosama's first persecution of the chris- 
tians — origin of another and more terrible 
persecution. — he sentences all the minis- 
ters AND FOLLOWERS OF THE GOSPEL TO DEATH. 

During the first five years, in which he 
acted kindly to the Fathers, the faith made 
wonderful conquests in every region of 
Japan ; so much so, that it counted more 
than two hundred thousand Christians. 
In fact, Christians had command of the 
army and navy, were the most distin- 
guished men in the court, and occupied 
the highest places in the general adminis- 
tration. The army itself was almost en- 
tirely Christian, and the standard of the 
cross might be seen everywhere in the 
camps and floating from the masts of the 
ships. Not satisfied with giving the 
Fathers license to preach the faith, Taico- 
sama would often go in person, attended 
by a small retinue, to confer for many 
hours with Father Gaspar Coeglio, the 
Viceprovincial. On the night of the 24th 
of July (1587), after having been a 



48 IIVES OF THE 

considerable time closeted with the latter 
in a place called Facata, the emperor 
returned to his palace, where he drank 
a quantity of Portuguese wine, and then 
summoned to his presence a Bonze named 
Jacuin — a shameless wretch who acted 
as caterer to his imperial master's revolting 
appetites. Jacuin informed the tyrant 
that the Christian women of Arima had 
indignantly refused to prostitute them- 
selves; and seasoning his narrative with 
many inventions of his own, he launched 
out into a bitter tirade against the Christian 
religion and the Fathers who were pro- 
pagating it. But this was not all ; for, the 
Bonze- set about proving, with perverse 
ingenuity, that the emperor would never 
be safe on his throne as long as he tole- 
rated in his dominions a race of men 
who taught the people a law which must 
finally subvert the gods, traditions, and 
usages of the country. Taicosama, who 
was always filled with sinister suspicions, 
and now stimulated by lust and fumes of 
wine, got into a rage, and swore a solemn 
oath that he would utterly extirpate the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 49 

Christians. On that very night he pro- 
nounced sentence of exile against Giusto 
Ucondono, the general of his army; and 
on the following morning he sent word 
to Father Coeglio that all preachers of the 
Gospel must, within a given period, quit 
Japan, at risk of their lives. 

" How," asks Father Froes, in his report 
of this fact, " could we think of abandon- 
ing so many Christians ? Nevertheless, in 
order to give the emperor's rage time to 
cool, and to show some semblance of 
respect for his mandate, the Viceprovin- 
cial ordered us to assume the ordinary 
Japanese costume, and without making 
any demonstration, to go on as usual at- 
tending to our flocks. Furthermore, in 
order not to give umbrage, we carefully 
avoided erecting public churches, and 
raised in their stead private chapels in 
retired quarters, where we could celebrate 
Mass and administer the sacraments. Each 
of these chapels had attached to it a sort 
of saloon on the exterior where we might 
be able to meet and instruct the people ; nor 
should we omit mentioning that at the very 



50 LIVES OF THE 

moment when the proclamation appeared, 
we were actually building a residence in 
Miako, and another in Ozaca, where there 
were four fathers and six laybrothers. 
Owing to these precautions upwards of 
one hundred and thirty-four members of 
the Society continued to hold their footing 
in Japan, and in the meanwhile the con- 
versions grew daily more numerous; so 
much so, that we baptized more than sixty- 
five thousand of the natives, without 
counting children born of Christian 
parents; and, yet, the emperor was fully 
aware that we were still in Japan ; but 
seeing us live in such a retired manner, he 
had no desire to persecute us as violators 
of his law,"* 

Such was the actual state of affairs 
when in June, 1593, four Franciscans — 
two priests and two laybrothers — landed 
at the port of Nangasasky, commissioned 
by the governor of the Philippine islands, 
to treat as ambassadors with Taicosama 
about some claim which the latter pre- 
tended to have on said islands. They 

* Apud Bolland. ad diem v. Februar. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 51 

were the first of all the other religious 
orders who visited Japan, and the principal 
among them was the Commissary, brother 
Peter Baptist, a man of holy life and truly 
zealous for the salvation of souls. On 
reaching Nangoia, they presented their 
credentials and gifts to Taicosama, and 
begged him to allow them to remain for 
some time in Miako. He consented, but 
on certain conditions. These holy men 
were not long there when, seeing what an 
abundant harvest lay before them, they 
opened a house and church, and began to 
exercise their ministry openly, to the great 
benefit of souls. This gave opportunity 
to the heathens, and particularly to one 
Faranda, a renegade, who for his own gain 
had at first acted kindly, to denounce them 
to Guenifoin, governor of Miako, as viola- 
tors of the imperial edict. 

Happily, however, as it would appear, 
the governor, who had two sons and two 
nephews Christians, did not forward the 
accusation to Taicosama, and the friars 
were allowed to live there for two years 
unmolested. But towards the close of 



52 LIVES OF THE 

1596, things assumed another aspect, 
owing to the wreck of the ship St. 
Philip, which, in its voyage from Ma- 
nilla to New Spain, was cast upon the 
beach of Urando, on the coast of the 
kingdom of Tosa. There were two hun- 
dred and forty passengers aboard the 
vessel, of whom ninety-five were natives 
of Castile, and among them four reli- 
gious of the order of St. Augustin, two 
of the order of St. Francis, brother 
Philip Casas (or of Jesus,) a choir-brother, 
and brother John Povero, a laybrother, 
and one of the order of St. Dominic. 
On hearing of the wreck, Taicosama, 
according to the barbarous usages of 
Japan, confiscated to his treasury all that 
remained of the freight; and to enforce 
his orders, he despatched to the scene , 
of the disaster a man, named Mascita, 
who was one of the three lieutenants 
of that quarter. Now, it so happened, 
that while seizing the property of the 
ill-fated ship, a chart, describing the 
coast, course of the winds, etc., etc., 
fell into the hands of Mascita, who, on 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 00 

examining it, asked the pilot how his 
king had presumed to take possession 
of countries so far away from Spain ; 
and when the pilot answered, " By 
force of arms," the perfidious lieutenant 
remarked, " How can that be, when 
you have so few fighting men aboard 
your ship?" To this the pilot replied — 
^Tn the hope of either frightening or pla- 
cating the barbarian, who had treated 
them so cruelly, and, as it subsequently 
appeared in the juridical informations, with 
a lie of enormous magnitude, and to the 
great detriment of Christianity — u Sir, 
we first of all send the religious to preach, 
and then comes the army to make war 
and conquests." With the inventory of 
the ship's freight and the chart in his pos- 
session, and the statement of the incau- 
tious pilot in his memory, Mascita has- 
tened back to Ozaca, where he made his 
report to Taicosama. The barbarian did 
not require this stimulant to set him on 
his bloody work ; for, the King of Tosa 
had already been exciting him ; and above 
all, the Bonze Jacuin, who, nine years 



54 LIVES OF THE 

previously kindled the flame of the first 
persecution. Taicosama hesitated no 
longer, and having declared his fixed in- 
tention of uprooting the accursed followers 
of Christ from the soil of Japan, he de- 
spatched on that very night — the 8 th of 
December, 1596 — a command to Gibu- 
nosci, Governor of Miako, and, at the 
same time, another to Farimandono, Go- 
vernor of Ozaca, to search for all preachers 
of the Gospel and their followers, and 
place them under arrest. 



III. 

ZEAL OF THE CHRISTIANS IN PRESENTING THEM- 
SELVES FOR MARTYRDOM. TAICOSAMA MITI- 
GATES HIS SENTENCE AGAINST THE FATHERS 
AND THE FAITHFUL. 

We had then in Ozaca four Jesuit priests, 
who came along with the bishop, Peter 
Martinez, who had left Nangasasky the 
day preceding. Father Organtino, the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 55 

superior of the whole body, having learnt 
from a Christian page, who was in the 
governor's suite, that the ministers of 
Christ were to be sought for and arrested, 
and that the emperor designed to uproot 
Christianity, thought it w r ise to leave two 
priests in Ozaca for the benefit of the 
faithful. To these he added Paul Michi, 
^vvith his two catechist colabourers, John 
de Goto and James Chisai ; and having 
made this provision, he himself, accompa- 
nied by Father Francis Perez and the lay 
brother Paul d'Amacusa, set out at night- 
fall of the following day to assist the 
Christians of Miako, and to offer himself 
on the altar of martyrdom. No sooner 
was Taicosamas inhuman sentence made 
known (comprising as it did all those who 
professed the Christian religion) than the 
entire of the converts were seized with an 
ardent desire for martyrdom ! Father 
Organtino, on reaching Miako, having 
been apprized that he was in imminent 
danger of arrest, filled w r ith joy and nowise 
dismayed, wrote the following letter to 
Father Peter Gomez, Viceprovincial, 



56 LIVES OF THE 

then at Nangasasky : — " What 1 now state 
must be a subject of great and common 
joy to you, to the bishop, and to all the 
Fathers and members of the Society; for, 
on the evening of yesterday Maria, wife 
of the deceased Givan, received notice' 
from Fascimi, through her nephew, that 
a few hours ago the king had ordered 
Gibunosci to put all the Fathers to death. 
These tidings were confirmed by Father 
Paul d^Vmacusa, in this very house where 
he addresses us in the following words : 
'Fathers and dearest brothers, the hour 
for which we longed has struck ! — now. 
we can lay down our lives for that living 
God who was the first to sacrifice himself 
for us.' Hearing this, we were greatly 
consoled, and set about preparing ourselves 
as best we could. One spirit animated us 
all — Fathers, lay-brothers, catechists, and 
servants : nay, every one of the Christians, 
young and old, proved what they really 
were, ready and willing to share our fate, 
and lay down their lives for the loveof God. 
Our first preparation regarded the im- 
mortal soul; and then, that we might 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 57 

present a decorous exterior, we put on 
our ecclesiastical habits, surplices, and 
stoles, desiring to appear on the occasion 
as it became sons of the Society, servants 
of God, and preachers of his law. The 
joy that God sent into our heart might 
be seen on our faces; and, indeed, I 
have not worls to describe it to you. 
-.JThis special grace of the Holy Ghost, 
has, doubtless, been obtained . for us 
through the continual prayers which, by 
order of our General, are offered by the 
whole Society for this province; nor 
should I forget the fervent prayers of 
your fraternity, who can so well appre- 
ciate our toils and the dangers that are 
closing round us. Were anything re- 
quired to stimulate and sustain us, we 
could have found it in the fervor, joy, 
readiness, and courage exhibited by all 
these good Christians, men and children 
of every state and condition; for we 
could not help observing, that they mani- 
fested no fear or melancholy, when on 
the point of losing their substance, chil- 
dren, wives, nay, life itself. The greatest 



58 LIVES OF THE 

danger they apprehended was that some of 
their kinsfolk would stand between them 
and the glory of martyrdom ; and foremost 
among them was that good soldier of 
Christ Giusto Ucondono, to say nothing 
of others of the first nobility; the two 
sons of the governor Geienefoin particu- 
larly, the youngest of whom, Constantine, 
could not be induced to abandon us. 
How shall I describe the other Chris- 
tians? The noblest among them sent 
their people to visit us ; nay, and 
wrote to say that they are ready to join 
us the moment the tempest bursts — to 
die with us, their Fathers and teachers. 
Doubtless, fervour and zeal like this must, 
in great measure, be attributed to the 
sacrament of Confirmation, which the 
bishop administered a few days ago in 
the city of Miako." And in the same 
strain many others of our Fathers wrote 
on this momentous occasion. But it will 
interest the reader to peruse a portion 
of a letter penned by the laybrother 
Vincent, a Japanese, who addressed it 
to our Viceprovincial. Such a document 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 59 

is worth publishing, as it throws light 
on the writer and the events of his time : 
— '• When the news reached me in Nara 
of what was passing in Miako, I dreaded 
to tarry any longer there lest I might 
not be able to join my brethren on the 
battle-field ; and such, indeed, was my 
haste, that I fancied I was flying in- 
instead of walking. On my arrival I was 
overpowered with regret at finding my 
desire thwarted ; for, as I was going right 
tip to the house, where the soldiers were 
on guard, the Christians dragged me 
away, stating that I was the person for 
whose arrest the Vicegovernor had 
strictest orders. I then hastened to join 
Father Organtino. I declare to you, very 
reverend Father, that this distinction that 
has been conferred on me, — namely, that 
of being specially sought for among the 
many preachers of the Society, — and the 
conviction in the minds of the heathens 
that I am in any w T ay a servant of Jesus 
Christ, has rendered some service towards 
the propagation of the faith. This 
assuredly is the greatest honour I could 



60 LIVES OF THE 

receive in this life, nor is there any 
other that will gladden me more in the life 
to come, when I stand before the Divine 
Majesty. What I now wish most is that 
persecution maybe my lot to the latest 
hour of my life. Had I been suffered to 
do so, I would have gone to throw myself 
instantly among those Friar preachers who 
were arrested ; but as I dare not overleap 
the limits which obedience prescribes, I 
resign myself to the Divine will. News 
has reached here that the king does not 
comprise us in the sentence of death ; this 
has been a source of joy to the Christians 
who are anxious for the preservation of 
the faith, but as for us we regard it as a 
disaster and misfortune. Nevertheless, as 
changes are constantly recurring — and 
indeed so rapidly, that what is ordered in 
the morning is counter-ordered before 
sunset — we still cherish a hope, — and 
nothing seems more likely — that Taicosama 
will sooner or later sentence us to death. 
Come what may — and I trust it may be 
death — your Paternity shall find that we 
will bear ourselves in our sufferings and 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 61 

latest agony with a constancy and fidelity 
which no words of mine could express. 
When we are slain, those in your district 
may expect a like destiny ; and when we 
are all reunited in paradise, we will gladly 
sing each others triumph. But should 
martyrdom be withheld from us of the 
Society now here and from the other 
^Christians, bear in mind, I beseech you, 
that before God they have offered their 
lives in sacrifice, all being anxious to die 
for the love of Jesus Christ." Those, 
however, who on that occasion won the 
palm of martyrdom amounted to twenty- 
four, but two others soon followed them 
to heaven. This was entirely attributable 
to the exertions and good policy of Gibu- 
nosci, Governor of Miako. This man was 
an idolator, but withal a well-meaning in- 
dividual—so far as one of his creed could 
be such — -who, unasked by anyone, but 
wholly of his own accord, returned to 
Taicosama the very day after the sentence 
had been promulgated, so indiscriminately 
involving as it did, all the preachers of the 
Gospel and their followers. On arriving 



62 LIVES OF THE 

at the court, Gibunosci pretended that he 
did not rightly understand the exact 
meaning of the sentence, and desired to 
be informed if the friars who came in the 
Portuguese ship from China were com- 
prised in the list of the condemned. "For," 
said he, " as the Portuguese do not come 
for the sake of conquest, but simply for 
mercantile affairs — a matter of great be- 
nefit to Japan — the case of those fathers 
is different from that of the others. He 
further remarked that as it was customary 
to affix a tablet to those who had fallen 
under the ban of the law, declaring the 
crime for which they were condemned, 
and the sentence to be carried out, he 
desired to know in what terms our sen- 
tence was to be couched (the accusation 
against us not being identical with that 
laid to the friars' charge) and why we 
should be put to death along with them. 
This affected misunderstanding was made 
still more plausible when he remarked 
that Father John Rodriguez, his own inter- 
preter, the aged Organtino, the bishop, 
and the ten of Nangasasky entrusted to 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 63 

the ambassador Valegnani had obtained 
from his Majesty a special license to re- 
main in Japan.'' On hearing this Taico- 
sama, without demanding anything more, 
determined that none but those who had 
come from the Philippine islands and 
their Japanese servants should be put to 
death. Gibunosci then observed that 
jthe Portuguese whenever they came to 
Japan visited him, made him presents and 
did him homage as king of that country, 
and he at the same time reminded him 
of the embassy, and gifts which were 
sent for his acceptance by the King of 
Naban (so the Japanese style the Viceroy 
of India), but more particularly of the 
embassy of Father Valegnani, adding that 
the bishop Martinez had taken his de- 
parture a few days before. Hereon the 
king, expressed himself in an excess of 
tenderness that could not have been 
expected from one so cruel and heartless, 
stating that he was sorely troubled for the 
sufferings of his old interpreter John 
Rodriguez, and that he would despatch 
some of his people with an assurance that 



C4 LIVES OF THE 

the former, his old man (that is Father 
Organtino), the Fathers of Nangasasky, 
the bishop, and those who accompanied 
him, should not be molested either in 
person or property. The church, too, in 
which they officiated for the Portuguese 
was to be respected. At the same time 
he gave all to understand that he would 
allow no preaching or interfering with the 
established religion,, and this he forbade 
under the severest penalties. He further 
declared, for the guidance of the Governor 
of Nangasasky, that he would not suffer 
any of the Fathers to enter Miako, except 
in the capacity of ambassadors or in the 
retinue of the Portuguese, who were accus- 
tomed to visit the court whenever their 
ships visited the Japanese shores. 

Astonished at this wonderful change 
which had come over the barbarian's 
mind, Gibunosci lost no time in despatch- 
ing messengers to Father Organtino (then 
in Miako), and also to Rodriguez, who 
had returned to Nangasasky with the 
bishop, and at the same time to his lieu- 
tenant, empowering him to withdraw the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 65 

guards from the residence and set the 
Fathers at liberty. But long before these 
happy tidings reached Nangasasky, or 
Scimo, a rumour had gone abroad, as is 
usual on all similar occasions, very greatly 
exaggerated, to wit, that ten of the 
Society who were then in the neighbour- 
hood of Miako and Ozaca, together with 
Jthe six Franciscans, had been arrested 
and put to death with the most revolting 
cruelties, thus crowning their labours and 
reflecting glory on their faith by martyrdom 
It was also noised about that there was a 
general search for Christians, and that no 
day passed without witnessing the slaughter 
of multitudes of them — in a word, that 
the sword was to be unsheathed speedily 
in Nangasasky, Arima, Amacusa, and 
Bungo — wherever the Fathers, churches, 
and faithful were to be found — and that 
the ministers of justice were coming to 
vindicate the law. 

This rumour, as may be supposed, 
caused the Christians to give themselves 
up to constant prayer, austere penances, 
and public preparation for death. As for 

e2 



66 LIVES OF THE 

our Fathers, they went about preaching 
In every quarter with a zeal that was ren- 
dered more intense by the circumstances 
and times, Night and day they were in- 
defatigable in their exertions to comfort 
the poor people. In the interval, a courier, 
despatched from Miako to Fazamburo, 
lieutenant of Terazstva, and governor of 
these kingdoms, bearing Taicosama's de- 
crees, reached Nangoia, Along with the 
ordinances already mentioned, the courier 
was charged wdth instructions from the 
king's cabinet ministers commanding 
Fazamburo to prevent the Fathers from 
preaching, and to forbid any Christian, 
the Portuguese excepted, to enter the 
church of, Nangasasky, The lieutenant 
was also ordered to interdict anything 
like the free and public exercise of the 
Christian religion; and no sooner was he 
invested with these powers than he wrote 
polite, but earnest, letters to John, King 
of Arima, and Santio, King of Omura, 
beseeching them, as they valued him, and 
the welfare of Christianity, not to exas- 
perate the Emperor, who, if he were so 



MAETYRS OF JAPAN. 67 

inclined, could easily expel them from 
their principalities, and utterly destroy 
the Christian religion in Japan. He then 
released the three Franciscans, who were 
imprisoned in the hospital of St. Lazarus, 
lodoinor them elsewhere in order that the 
Portuguese might not discover them ; and 
lie finally issued a proclamation, warning 
the latter to make no attempt to caryr 
them off by sea or land. 



IV. 

TAICOSAMA SENTENCES THE RELIGIOUS TO 

DEATH. A CURIOUS INCIDENT OF ONE MAN 

SUBSTITUTING HIMSELF FOR ANOTHER OF THE 
SAME NAME IN ORDER TO WIN THE PALM OF 
MARTYRDOM, 

After the final sentence, which con- 
signed the Franciscan friars to death, 
and the selection of the twelve, who 
were to share their glorious fatQ, had 
been published in Miako, nothing further 



68 LIVES OF THE 

was done in their regard till the 30th 
of December. This was owing to the 
ingenuity of Gibunosci, who postponed 
their execution, hoping, no doubt, that 
Taicosama's rage would eventually 
cool. In fact, he flattered himself 
with the hope of being able at some 
favourable moment to persuade the king 
to deal leniently with the religious by 
sending them back to the place whence 
they came, the more so, as most of them 
were known to be ambassadors from the 
Governor of the Philippine Islands. But 
the malignant Bonze, Jacuin, divined his 
motives, and anticipated them; for, on 
the aforesaid day, he waited on Taicosama, 
reminded him of all that had passed, in- 
veighed against the negligence of his 
ministers, in executing the royal ordi- 
nances, and inflicting summary vengeance 
on the destroyers of the gods of Japan, 
and teachers of the devil's law, as he 
used to style that of Christ. Indeed, so 
did this impious idolator work on the 
evil passions of his master, that the latter 
became, if possible, still more infuriated 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 69 

against the Christians when the Bonze re- 
minded him of his former determination. 
Having summoned Gibunosci to his 
presence, the monarch commanded him, 
without further delay, to cut off the noses 
of those on whom sentence had been pro- 
nounced. Some of them were in Miako, 
and others in Ozaca, whither they were 
all to be removed. This part of the sen- 
tence having been carried out, they were 
to be placed on wheeled vehicles (a large 
placard being carried before them to 
announce their condemnation), and ex- 
posed to the jeers of the idolatrous rabble 
in the most frequented thoroughfares of 
Miako, Ozaca, and Sacai, till they reached 
Nangasasky, where they were to be cru- 
cified, and left in that state till their 
decomposing bodies should fall to the 
ground. Such, indeed, is the usage 
among those barbarians. This inflexible 
order banished all hope from Gibunosci's 
heart, and he instantly dispatched a 
messenger to his lieutenant in Miako, 
empowering him to remove the five Fran- 
ciscans and the twelve Japanese, who 



70 LIVES OF THE 

were condemned to die with them, from 
the place where they were under arrest, 
to the common jail. This circumstance, 
indeed, brought about an event which 
caused many and many a one to marvel ; 
nay, and to praise the mysterious counsels 
of God's providence. Let us tell it. The 
Franciscan friars had in their employment 
a Japanese, named Mathias, who acted as 
their providore and cook. This man was 
comprised in the list of his twelve com- 
patriots who were sentenced to death, 
but on account of the duties he had to 
discharge, the soldiers permitted him 
sometimes to go out into the city to 
purchase provisions for the Franciscans. 
Now, it so happened, that Mathias had 
gone out to make purchases a short time 
before the officer came to remove the 
prisoners ; and when the latter functionary 
read out the list of the condemned each 
one answered to his name, and willingly 
gave himself up to the authorities. 

When, however, Mathias' name was 
called, there was no response; and the 
officer proceeded to search the house 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 71 

for him, calling on him, at the same time, 
in a loud tone to present himself. Close 
by the door, at that precise moment, 
there was another Japanese Christian of 
the same name, who had been condemned 
among forty-seven others, and who, when 
the law-officers had reduced the list to 
twelve, was excepted from the number 
of those sentenced to death. But God so 
willed it, that he should be there at that, 
for him most happy moment probably, 
because Heaven had special views on him, 
and thought him more worthy of the 
martyr's crown than his namesake, who 
was absent. Hearing the officers shout- 
ing out Mathias, Mathias ! he at once 
stepped forward, and replied: " That is 
my name; but to tell the truth, I am 
not the person for whom you are search- 
ing; nevertheless, I am a Christian, and 
if you wish to take me, I willingly sur- 
render myself into your hands." Nothing 
more was required, and they took him 
at his word, placed him among the con- 
demned, and marched him off. It would 
have been a sight worthy of paradise, if 



72 LIVES OF THE 

the other Mathias had come in at this 
juncture, and appealed to the Japanese 
officer, to prevent his namesake from 
depriving him of the crown of martyr- 
dom, as happened more than once during 
the subsequent persecutions, and suc- 
cessfully, too, for the party laying claim 
to that incomparable honor. But such 
was not the good fortune of the missing 
Mathias, nor have I learned what became 
of him. When the Christians heard of 
this strange incident, they could not 
help calling to mind what St. Luke has 
said of the Apostle, who was substituted 
for Judas, " the lot fell upon Mathias, 
and he was numbered among the twelve" 
and, indeed, this remark was all the more 
appropriate, as the elect, of whom we 
have been speaking, counted only eleven, 
and wanted one to make up the number 
of the apostolic college. 



MARTYRS OF JAP AX. 



V. 



ROW OUR THREE, PAUL MIC HI, JOHN DE GOTO, 
AND JAMES CHISAI, WERE COMPRISED IN THE 

SENTENCE OF DEATH THE WONDERFUL DELIGHT 

WITH WHICH THEY ACCEPT MARTYRDOM. 

In a different manner, but not without the 
special providence of God so willing it, 
our brethren, Paul Michi, John de Goto, 
and James Chisai, were destined to take 
their place among the Martyrs of Japan. 
We have already stated that they were 
excepted from the list of those whom 
Taicosama had sentenced to death, and 
whom he subsequently reduced to twelve, 
these namely who came from the Philip- 
pine islands and their followers. But let 
us proceed. After the tyrant had some- 
what mitigated his former sentence, the 
governor, Gibunosci, sent orders to have 
the guards withdrawn from our residence 
at Miako. Such, however, was not the 
case in Ozaca, where Farimandono was 
governor. This man had been rebuked 



CO LIVES OF THE 

efforts made in their behalf, by Giusto 
Ucondono and the two sons of the go- 
vernor, Guenifoin, who did their utmost 
to induce Farimandono's chief minister to 
set them at large. Avaricious and cor- 
ruptible as the latter was, like the great 
masses of the Japanese, no amount of 
bribes could soften his stony heart ; 
and, indeed, Father Organtino, on learn- 
ing" what these good Christian gentle- 
men had done for the release of the 
prisoners, rebuked them in a letter, and 
showed them how such intrigues might 
injure the cause of Christianity in Japan. 
At length, on the first day of the year, 
1597, Brother Martin and his three Ja- 
panese, two catechists, and the third, a 
preacher, w r ere sent, under strong escort, 
to Miako, where they were thrown into 
the public jail with the others. Nothing 
could exceed the joy with which our 
brothers were animated an finding them- 
selves in such holy companionship; and 
it was, if possible, heightened by a letter 
elated Ozaca, from Father Peter de More- 
con, congratulating them on their happiness, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. i i 

and lamenting that he was not sharing it 
alonsf with them. Bat among; that band 
of Christian heroes, there was none whose 
heart felt such delight as did that of Paul. 
Loaded with heavier irons than those 
which crippled the limbs of his fellows, 
he was, nevertheless, the most joyful of 
them all ; so much so, that his companions 
could never tire of contemplating the 
heaven-lit brightness of his features, or 
listening; to the words which flowed with 
such unction from his lips. During the 
whole of that night in the prison of 
Miako, he never ceased preaching to the 
jailors and the Christians — who could not 
be induced to leave him — of the immor- 
tality of the soul, the eternity of the 
world to come, the glory of the blessed, 
the passion and death of the Saviour ; but 
above all, of the unparalleled and price- 
less happiness of dying a martyr for the 
faith. This, indeed, was the clearest wish 
of his heart — the grand object on which 
all his desires were centered ; and so well 
did he express himself when discoursing of 
it that, eloquent as he was by nature, his 
language now smote the ears of all around 



78 LIVES 0:7 THE 

him, like something that had never before 
fallen from mortal tongue. What de- 
lighted him more was the discovery of so 
many points of resemblance between the 
sufferings of our Lord and those which he 
was about to taste : — He was in his thirty- 
third year ! He was to die on a cross, and 
to be pierced with a lance ! His passion 
dated from Thursday, when he was ironed ! 
He was to be put to death by his ownnation, 
which he desired to save! and then, on 
the following Friday, even as Christ was 
exposed to the execration of the populace 
in the streets of Jerusalem, so was he to 
be led through the streets of Miako, with 
the sentence of death displayed, to the 
place of execution! All who heard his 
words wept bitterly, and each of them 
spoke wonderful things of him long after 
his death. What is more, two of his 
jailors privately promised him that they 
would become Christians, and this added 
to the joy which he experienced in the 
prison of Ozaca, where he had the happi- 
ness of converting, and baptizing with his 
own hand, six idolators. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 79 



VI. 

THE JAPANESE EXECUTIONER CUTS OFF AN EAR 

OF EACH OF THE TWENTY-FOUR MARTYRS. 

THEY ARE EXPOSED TO PUBLIC DERISION IN THE 
STREETS OF MIAKO. — AFFECTING INCIDENT OF 
AN OLD MAN RECENTLY CONVERTED TO THE 
FAITH. 

At daybreak of the third of January, the 
twenty-four having been taken out of the 
prison, with their hands tied behind their 
backs, and surrounded by a vast crowd 
of guards and people, were led on foot to 
lower Miako — for it should be borne in 
mind that the place is divided into two 
great cities, the upper and lower. Here 
each of the martyrs had a portion of the 
left ear cut off — some more, some less, 
according to the whim of the executioner ; 
and this, indeed, was a spontaneous stretch 
of mercy on the part of the governor, as 
the emperor's sentence was that each of 
them should lose the nose and both ears. 
During this barbarous proceeding our 
Martyrs had beside them two most fervent 
Christians, who were martyrs as far as 



80 LI YES OF THE 

they could be such ; as they found none to 
slay them, although they were ready and 
willing to lay down their lives. One of 
them was Nodaghensuchi Victor, secre- 
tary to the Governor of Ozaca, already 
mentioned. This good man could never 
be kept from Paul Michi, but clung to 
him with unfailing fidelity from the 8th of 
December (the day on which the persecu- 
tion commenced), till the 31st of the same. 
Constantly at our martyr's side, he never 
left him, except when called away by 
domestic affairs ; and he finally brought his 
wife and children to reside in the vicinity 
of the prison, determined, should our peo- 
ple be put to death, that he and his would 
be the first to share their martyrdom. 
What is still more surprising, he actually 
consigned himself to voluntary imprison- 
ment in the same dungeon with Paul, and 
when some one said to him, " Is it piety 
that induces you to expose your wife and 
children to death? can you love them and 
act thus ?" he replied : " Tis because I love 
them I act thus ; for, by this means I will 
procure for them happiness far surpassing 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN.*, 81 

any that they or I could secure. They 
understand this, and because they love me 
much as I love them, were I not to 
offer myself for martyrdom, they would 
bring me along with them to it, just as I 
am now bringing them. Now, should I 
die without them, who will guarantee that 
they shall be reunited to me in eternity?" 
On another occasion when one of the 
Fathers with whom he was familiar in 
Ozaca, asked him to take charge of a 
packet of letters, which he had written 
for general circulation among the Chris- 
tians, and others for particular individuals, 
exhorting them to maintain the faith, and 
lay down their lives for it, if necessary, 
he met the request thus, " What ! would 
you force me to live? would you deprive 
me of the opportunity of obtaining eter- 
nal life?" In fact, he regarded the 
Fathers conduct (although it was meant 
well) as the greatest insult that could be 
inflicted on him, and with tears in his eyes, 
he added: U I never thought, my Father, 
that you would thus requite my love for 
you by rejecting me as one unworthy to 

f2 



82 LIVES OF THE 

share your martyrdom !" In short, the 
letters had to be committed to the charge 
of somebody else, and this truly heroic 
man never quitted our three martyrs night 
or day. Even 6n their way to the place 
of execution he was by their side, present 
at the cutting off the ears, and accompany- 
ing them when they were paraded for 
public mockery in the streets of the city. 
The other Japanese to whom I alluded 
was Andrew Ongasavara, a teacher of 
equitation and archery — arts highly prized 
and cultivated by the natives. While he 
was residing in Ozaca, his ardent desire to 
die a similar death, on the cross, prompted 
him to feign that he was owner of the 
house in which Paul Michi lodged, hoping 
thus that if none but members of the 
Society would be allowed to share his 
fate, he would either be the only one or 
the first. But as the lieutenant had only 
inserted the names of John and James on 
the list, it occurred to him that the num- 
ber would be soon increased, and he 
therefore remained constantly with them. 
Meanwhile multitudes of the people pre- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 83 

sented themselves for the same purpose, 
and among them, Paul Sachiondono, a 
man of most exalted rank, each and all of 
whom began to contest with each other 
•who should have the happiness of dying 
with the Fathers, in case those then 
present were not accepted. Each urged 
his own peculiar claims, and energetically, 
but none more so than the good John Goto, 
subsequently one of the three martyrs, 
who, having obtained leave of his jailors to 
absent himself for a while, hurried into 
the presence of Farimandono, the go- 
vernor, and told him " that his name w T as 
inserted in the list, and that it should not 
be cancelled; and finally, that he ought 
not be deprived of his cross, which others 
whom the accident of birth and fortune 
had made more influential, were anxious 
to take from him." He had previously 
written to Father Peter de Morecon, 
asking permission to follow this line of 
conduct, but the good religious did not 
give his consent. Nevertheless this was 
of no great importance to Goto, for God 
had already registered his name among 



84 XIVES OF THE 

the twenty-six who were destined for 
martyrdom. Meanwhile the contest for 
the heavenly honour was decided in 
favour of Andrew who was pronounced 
worthy of the foremost place. After him 
it was awarded to Victor, the secretary, 
and to the rest in turn. But Andrew 
would have his whole family share his high 
destiny ; even his decrepid mother, wife 
and children, some of whom were mere 
babies. His father w r as the onlv one 
with . whom he had any difficulty, and 
as the circumstances of the old man's case 
are very interesting, I will not omit men- 
tioning them. 

This man was of noble birth, verging 
on his eightieth year, a courtier from his 
youth, and well skilled in the use of 
the sword. Andrew, therefore, as may 
be imagined did not find it hard to induce 
the aged parent to lay down his life with 
him and the Fathers, and thus win the 
martyr's crown. But still there was a 
difficulty to be overcome; for, when 
Andrew told him that he was bound to 
accept death joyfully and on his knees, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 85 

offering himself to God, with hands and 
eyes raised to heaven, nay, and with 
bended neck and arms stretched out for 
the convenience of those who were to 
fix him to the cross, the old soldier 
got into a passion which he mistook for 
zeal, and replied — "what! to become 
a martyr must I die like a coward? 
Am I to stand by and see our good 
Fathers die, slaughtered before- me just 
as if I had never wielded a sword? 
and you, unworthy of your father and 
your race, is this the advice you give 
me? Kneel down for the executioner! 
bend my neck P and with this, as he had 
only a poniard at his side, he hurried off to 
fetch a scimitar which he had not worn for 
many years, and on his return began to 
brandish it in the. air, and make various 
passes with the weapon, of which he was 
perfect master. He then resumed, " I 
find that I am still able to handle it ; let 
these idolatrous dog-s- come on, and be 
they many or few, they shall not lay 
hands on the Fathers or come within 
sweep of my trusty sword, I will hew- 



86 LIVES OF THE 

them clown till nothing remains in my 
grasp but the sword's hilt, ay, till my arms 
fall powerless by my sides. Then let 
them slay me, and I will die like a brave 
martyr." Having spoken thus he once 
more performed a variety of passes, just 
as if he had had his youth restored to 
him. Many Christians witnessed this 
curious incident, and although it was 
a time for tears, very few of them 
could help smiling. Andrew, indeed, 
was sorely grieved by the spectacle ; for, 
he knew that no words of his could 
convince the old man of his error. Never- 
theless he besought him with affecting 
humility to withdraw from Ozaca till the 
fury of the persecution had passed away, 
but this request was ineffectual ; for the 
old man regarded it as a cowardly sug- 
gestion, and said: " A brave man should 
never think of running away; 'tis dis- 
graceful. I will die, sword in hand, as a 
brave martyr should die." None but God 
could change the old soldier's idea — the 
only erroneous one he entertained — simply 
because he was a novice in the school of 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 87 

Christ, and so familiarised with that of 
the world, that he did not know how to 
distinguish the difference betwen military 
and Christian bravery. And God was 
pleased to demonstrate it to him in such 
an effectual manner, that he had only to 
visit his own house in order to compre- 
hend it fully. On his return home he 
found his own wife and Andrew's preparing 
for themselves, their children, and 
nephews, the dress which they were to 
wear, that they might appear becomingly 
on the cross, and the other members of 
the family getting ready the reliquaries 
and rosaries with which they meant to 
adorn their persons. Hearing the women 
settling among themselves the order in 
which each would be crucified ; who first 
and who second, with what willingness 
and reverence they should kiss the 
gibbet, and extend their arms for the 
executioner ; what words they should ad- 
dress to each other ; nay, and animating 
one another and thanking God for allow- 
ing -them to lay down their lives for love 
of Him — hearing all this the old man was 



88 LIVES OF THE 

astounded, filled with admiration for what 
he considered so far superior to mere 
natural courage, and in an instant felt 
himself so entirely changed, that he 
exclaimed, " Andrew is right ! this is 
heroism with which I was not acquainted, 
and far superior to mine." So saying, 
he flung away his scimitar and poniard, 
and in their stead armed himself with the 
rosary, and joyfully prepared himself to 
die like his pious wife and kinsfolk. 



VII. 



THE EARS OF OUR THREE BROTHERS— HOW 
THE MARTYRS COMPORTED THEMSELVES IN THE 
STREETS OF MIAKO. 

Victor, the secretary, and Andrew (both 
of whom I have felt myself bound to 
mention with respectful brevity) clung 
faithfully to our three during their im- 
prisonment in Ozaca, on their journey 
thence to Miako, and w^ere present while 
the executioner was cutting off their 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 89 

cars. Victor also gathered up the 
pieces, and piously carried them to Father 
Organ tino. On receiving them, the old 
man's heart was deeply affected; his holy 
emotions were legible in his features ; 
and so abundant were his tears, and so 
affecting the sentiments to which he gave 
utterance, that all the by-standers wept, 
He exhibited the mutilated fragments to 
all about him, kissed them, pressed them 
to his face, and then raising them up, 
while his tears flowed fast, made an 
offering of them to God. " These," said 
lie, "are the first fruits of our blood in 
Japan, after all the sweat and toil we 
have expended on it, during eight-and- 
forty years. These are the earliest offer- 
ings from Miako — plucked from the 
parent stems, which in a few days hence 
shall be engrafted on three gibbets in 
Nangasasky, to the end that others may 
cull flowers still fairer and more abundant 
fruit !" Then, reflecting on his own case, 
he continued, still weeping: " would to 
God, it Avere my good fortune to share 
their happy, lot ! Ah, that instead of 



90 LIVES OF THE 

offering to heaven, with my hands, the 
blood of others, mine own were shed, 
that others might make an offering of 
it!" Venerable, holy soul, these senti- 
ments were worthy of you, who so often 
stood in imminent danger of martyrdom; 
and yet, as though heaven did not think 
you ripe for that honour, it was your 
destiny to see the wreath plucked from 
your brow, and the palm from your 
grasp ! 

Meanwhile, the twenty-four being 
placed on eight cars — three on each — 
(and ours were the last,) they were led 
through the thoroughfares of Miako, 
their inhuman conductors taking no heed 
of the blood that streamed from their 
ears. Let the reader bear in mind, that 
this public parade is the greatest indignity 
with which the Japanese can brand the 
condemned; and, indeed, it is never 
resorted to, except in the case of most 
infamous criminals. To disgrace them 
still more, they were preceded by an 
officer, who carried on the point of a 
lance a large tablet, whereon their crime. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 91 

and the sort of death to which they 
were doomed, might be read in capital 
letters. In our vernacular it -would run 
thus : — " Whereas, these men have come 
from the Philippine Islands, with the 
title of ambassadors, and located them- 
selves in Miako, preaching the Christian 
religion, which I prohibited, under strictest 
penalties, many years ago ; and, whereas, 
they have built churches, and been guilty 
of other such outrages, I now command 
that they be put to death, and along with 
them the Japanese who have gone over to 
their religion. The twenty-four are to 
be crucified in Nangasasky ; and, as I now 
repeat my former prohibition, let it be 
universally knewn, and obeyed by all ; 
for, should any one attempt to act con- 
trary to this ordinance, he and his entire 
family shall suffer the same penalty. In 
the first year of Cheicio, on the twentieth 
of the eleventh moon." 

Owing to the dense crowds following 
and surrounding the condemned, the pro- 
cession had to move slowly, multitudes of 
the people forcing their way up to the 



92 LIVES OF THE 

cars. All the Christians were abroad in 
the streets, and the roofs and windows 
swarmed with spectators, each one giving 
expression to their feelings — some of pity, 
others of scornful joy; and such was the 
universal uproar, that it was difficult to 
catch the words which fell from the lips 
of some of our most courageous martyrs. 
Anions the most distinguished of the 
latter was the Commissary, Brother Peter 
Baptist, who preached to the crowd as 
well as he could in Japanese, and ani- 
mated his own brethren in their own 
native Spanish tongue. The two Fran- 
ciscan priests, who came from the Philip- 
pine Islands — one of whom had been only 
a few months, and the other less than a year ■ 
in Japan — not understanding the language 
were silent, and most decorous in their 
deportment, giving themselves entirely 
to God in prayer. Of our three, Paul 
Michi preached while the other two, with 
eyes raised heavenwards, were wrapped in 
profound meditation, and presented an 
aspect so radiant with delight, that a gen- 
tleman of the court, named Romano — 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 03 

who, in spite of the guards, forced 
his way through the posse to salute 
the prisoners — never forgot what he 
saw and heard in that momentary inter- 
view. Indeed, so great was the con- 
solation he derived- from it that he never 
afterwards could speak of the event 
without shedding tears. But the observed 
of all observers and the theme of every 
tongue were three boys from twelve to 
fifteen years old, into whose youthful 
hearts God w r as pleased to infuse a truly 
superhuman courage, with a view, as w r e 
may suppose, to teach the heathens that 
joy and noble bearing like theirs could 
come only from heaven. Undismayed by 
the shouts and mockery of the crowds, 
and heedless of the blood that streamed 
from their wounds, the three vouths 
chanted in unison the Pater and Ave, and 
whatever other prayers they had learnt. 
Most remarkable of the three w r as little 
Louis, wdio was but twelve, years old, and 
who during the entire of the journey to 
Nangasasky never changed a feature and 
never looked in the slightest degree dis- 



94 LIVES OF THE 

heartened ; in fact, he astounded the 
religious, who could not but derive consola- 
tion and strength from his example. This 
was the same Louis who, while in prison in 
Miako, was visited by an influential idola- 
tor, who came to offer him life and liberty- 
provided he would abandon the faith. 
"Ah," replied the boy, "you, too, ought 
to embrace it; for, it is the only means of 
everlasting salvation." Further on we 
shall give greater proofs of this youthful 
zeal, enkindled doubtless by the Holy 
Ghost, who selected this happy boy before 
others to manifest the wonders of God's 
grace. Nor should we omit stating that 
the fervour displayed by the faithful was 
beyond all praise. Thousands of them 
besought the escort to take them into 
custody and convey them to Nangasasky 
to be crucified. When told that they 
were not included in the list of the sen- 
tenced they begged as a special favour to 
be allowed to mount the cars, in order 
that they might thus share the scorn that 
was flung upon the Martyrs in the streets 
of Miako. They, good souls, would fain 



MARTYHS OF JAPAN. 95 

be partakers of their triumph ! The pro- 
cession terminated, (and, indeed, it lasted 
many hours), the Martyrs were brought 
back to the public prison, where there 
was a vast assemblage waiting to see them. 
Alighting from the vehicle, Paul Michi 
warmly embraced, one by one, the six 
Franciscans, thanking them for the great 
happiness they had conferred on him, 
namely, that of being crucified along with 
them ; and, indeed, so astounded were the 
heathens at witnessing the heartfelt de- 
light which glowed in his features, that 
they gazed at each other as it were awe- 
struck, asking " what sort of people are 
these, and what sort is the religion that 
enables them to rejoice in the midst of 
sufferings, glory in disgrace, and long for 
death?" Well might they talk thus; for, 
never before did the Japanese witness such 
a spectacle, and in after times they were 
wont to speak of it in almost the same 
words. 



98 LIVES 0* THE 



VIII. 

THE MARTYRS ARE CONVEYED FROM MIAKO , TO 
NANGASASKY INCIDENTS ON THE WAY. 

At daybreak they were all mounted on 
horses and conducted to Ozaca, and thence 
to Sacai, the two largest cities that lay on 
their route. In the latter place, as in 
Miako, they were paraded through the 
public thoroughfares, exposed to popular 
execration, their sentence being duly 
carried before them, as we have already 
described. From thence they might have 
gone expeditiously to Nangasasky by the 
channel which divides the islands from 
each other (for, be it understood, that 
Sacai and Nangasasky are both situated 
on the coast) ; but Taicosama, wishing to 
overawe the Christian converts, and at the 
same time to show r his lieutenants and 
governors how implacably he hated Chris- 
tianity, and how determined he was to 
prevent its dissemination, ordained that 
our holy martyrs should make the jour- 
ney by land. Thus were they conveyed 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 97 

from village to village and from town 
to town, in each of which a prison 
had been prepared for them accord- 
ing to orders forwarded by the exe- 
cutive. The places assigned for their 
detention were formed of strong stakes 
driven into the ground, and connected 
with each other by a sort of wicker -work, 
resembling that of ca^es. Soldiers in 
great numbers mounted guard over them, 
and right before the entrance the sen- 
tence of death, written in large characters, 
was raised on the point of a lance. They 
set out from Sacai on the ninth of January, 
and on the fourth of the following month 
they drew r near Nangasasky, after incre- 
dible fatigues, during a twenty-six days' 
journey, which was rendered still more 
painful by the cold of the spring 
time ; for, strange as it may seem to us, 
those regions are covered with snow and 
ice at that season. Nor should we omit 
mentioning that they w r ere, in many 
instances, treated with singular humanity 
by their guards, who could not but admire 
the joy with which they welcomed death, 

G 



98 LIVES OF THE 

their charity to one another, and their 
profound devotion. When not engaged 
in mental prayer, they conversed with 
each other of God and eternity, and thus 
edified the heathens, who did not fail to 
recommend them warmly to the various 
escorts who took them in charge along the 
way. They were occasionally provided 
with horses, and whenever the roads 
were very bad, they were carried in a 
species of litter, quite common in Japan. 
Nevertheless, they had to perform a con- 
siderable portion of the journey on foot, 
and their limbs were swollen and exco- 
riated by the bitter cold. 

At a certain village of the kingdom 
of Amacusa they were committed to the 
custody of an idolatrous official, who 
hated the very name of Christian so much 
that he treated them in the most inhuman 
manner ; for, not satisfied with receiving 
them badly, he flung them into a foul 
dungeon, which was far fitter to be a den 
for wild beasts than a prison for a rational 
creature. Seeing this, Paul Michi con- 
trived to have an interview with him, and 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 99 

the result was that he not only softened 
his hard heart, but converted him from 
idolatry to the law of Christ. This, 
assuredly, was little short of a miracle; 
but let us hear how God was pleased to 
bring about such a singular change. 
Haying assured the personage of whom 
w r e have been speaking, that the pri- 
soners, whether guarded or otherwise, would 
never harbour an idea of escaping, he gave 
as a reason for this resolve that they were 
only anxious for eternal happiness, which 
was to be the reward of all their sufferings. 
"You can now understand (continued 
Michi), that ours is not an affected joy, but 
rather a deep sense of consolation, which 
has its source in our hearts. We are not cri- 
minals consigned to death for violation of 
the emperor's laws, and the only crime 
laid to our charge is, that we adore the 
one true God, creator of the universe, 
whom we love, and whose religion we 
preach. Taicosama, your emperor, knows 
not that religion ; and he has, therefore, 
condemned us for announcing it." He 
then unfolded the law of Christ to the 



100 " LIVES OF THE 

idolator, who listened to him attentively, 
till the unction of his words, and the force 
of his arguments so overcame the bar- 
barian, and dissipated his prejudices, that 
he requested to be fully instructed in the 
Christian doctrine. At length he became 
a believer, and before the dawn of the 
next day he received the grace of bap- 
tism. 

During the remainder of the journey 
they enjoyed very many privileges — for 
they were allowed to spend their time as 
they liked in prayer and spiritual collo- 
quies, occasionally listening to one of 
their companions cheering them with an 
exhortation. But, while thus intent on 
their own sanctification, they were not 
neglectful of their duties to others. As 
for the Japanese brethren, they took 
every opportunity of writing to their re- 
latives and acquaintances, exhorting those 
who were Christians to hold by the faith ; 
and those who were idolators to hearken 
to it, and embrace it. We still preserve 
many of Paul Michi's letters to our 
Fathers, then in Miako and Ozaca, and 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 101 

each of them is full of that holy spirit 
which animated him. In one of his 
epistles, he requests that a devout picture, 
which he valued, should be given to his 
mother, who was still living, " in order," 
says he, " that it may help her to fix her 
heart on heaven, as I cannot be bodily 
with her. It w^ill enable her to raise her 
thoughts to God, into whose presence I 
am going to beg consolation for her," 
He also wrote to his dear friends, Giusto 
Ucondono, Paul and Constantine, sons 
of Genofoin, Andrew Ongasavara, and 
others, who spared no exertions to obtain 
his release. Instead, however, of thanking 
them for their charity in his behalf, he 
gently chided them for endeavouring to 
deprive him of the crown of martyrdom, 
which heaven was about to place on his 
head. Never, never, during that journey, 
of twenty-six days, did he tire of preach- 
ing on the roads, in the inns, and doing 
all the good that lay in his power. His 
toils were amply rewarded; for, many 
of those who heard him embraced the 

g2 



102 LIVES OF THE 

Christian faith, and were baptized. As 
for himself, he has left it on record, that 
during his twenty years' toil, he never 
effected so much good for Christianity, 
or with such consolation to himself, as 
Cod enabled him to accomplish in that 
last journey. u And now," so runs one 
of his letters, " that I am condemned to 
death, solely because I have preached the 
law of Christ, I will continue to preach it 
with my latest breath." And indeed, as we 
shall see hereafter, he carried out his 
resolution, at that consummating moment, 
when he turned his cross into a pulpit, 
and had for his auditors the vast crowd 
that came to witness his triumphant 
death. What a happy destiny was his ! 
His heart, like those of his holy compa- 
nions, thrilled with delight in expectation 
of the martyr's palm. But more fortunate 
than his associates, he was the only one 
who could preach in the Japanese lan- 
guage, in which, as we have already said, 
he w r as profoundly versed. What wonder 
if his zeal grew more fervent, now that 
the hour of his triumph drew nigh! 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 103 

In fact, his preaching exasperated the 
Bonzes beyond our power of describing ; 
for they remarked, one to another, that 
Taicosama had acted unwisely in parading 
these men from Miakp to Nangasasky, 
thus enabling them to traverse one half 
of Japan, and address the people as they 
went along. " This," said they, " is not 
uprooting Christianity from where it was, 
but rather disseminating it where it w r as 
not. Nay, more, had they never uttered a 
word, their very example, and the joy that 
animates them, in prospect of the eternal 
happiness which, they say, is in store for 
them after death, would be quite enough 
to infect the people. The nearer to death, 
the greater their iov! What a madness 
to have allowed them opportunity for 
addressing the multitudes, whom curiosity 
brings out to listen to them !" Such were 
the remarks of the Bonzes ; but they had 
not long to wait, till they discovered that 
they were, in some measure, prophets of 
results, which they contemplated with 
dread. 



104 LIVES OF THE 



IX. 

THEY ARE JOINED BY NEW COMPANIONS ON THE 

WAY.— THE MARTYRS ARRIVE AT FACATA. 

LETTERS FROM THE COMMISSARY, PETER BAP- 
TIST AND PAUL MICHI, ADDRESSED TO THE 
RECTOR OF NANGASASKY AND THE VICEPRO- 
VINCIAL. 

Irrespective of the many incidents that 
shed such lustre on the journey of our 
twenty-four generous heroes, there was 
one which, if possible, rendered it still 
more signally remarkable. We allude to 
the accession made to their numbers on 
the way, when they were joined by two 
new associates whom God most providen- 
tially set apart for the honor of martyrdom. 
Two pious Christians, one of whom was a 
friend to the Franciscans, and the other 
especially devoted to ours, made a volun- 
tary offering of their services to the 
Martyrs during the journey. One was 
named Francis, and the other Peter 
Suchegiro. The former was a carpenter, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 105 

and had been baptized some eight months 
previously, but the latter had been re- 
ceived into the Church long before his 
companion, and was an old Christian. 
Although especially attached to the 
Fathers of the Society, Father Organtino 
arranged that he should have charge of 
all the others, religious as well as lay 
brothers; and he accordingly placed in 
his hands a sum of money sufficient for 
their maintenance and requirements on 
the road. This provision was absolutely 
necessary, when we call to mind the dis- 
tance they had to travel, the severity of 
the season, and the other difficulties which 
they had to encounter. But as for the 
money, it could not have been entrusted 
to any one more competent to disburse 
it wisely. These two men ambitioned 
equally the martyr's palm, but they could 
only hope to win it, since their names 
were not comprised in the list of the 
twenty-four, and that list was now finally 
closed, though many in Miako were 
urgently requesting to be inscribed on 
it. During some days they thought 



106 LIVES OF THE 

of little besides performing whatever 
good offices they could for the Martyrs, 
utterly unconscious that they were 
thus earning for themselves the same 
heavenly honour. One day, however, 
they were called aside by some of 
the guards who, annoyed at seeing their 
own countrymen paying such attention 
to the condemned, questioned them 
thus: "Are you also Christians?" being 
answered in the affirmative, the guards 
replied, " Well, then, Christians and 
Tobiri (a word which, in Japanese, signi- 
fies proselytes), you must join them," and 
thereon they arrested them and tied their 
hands behind their backs. Thenceforth, 
during the remainder of the journey to 
Nangasasky, they were treated like their 
companions, and handed over to the 
detachments appointed to receive them in 
the various villages along the route. 
Their thanksgiving to God for this favor — 
ail the more prized because least ex- 
pected — was, we need hardly say, fervent 
beyond description. Their only regret 
was that they, like their associates, had 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 107 

not had their ears cut off, and that they did 
not share the ignominy heaped upon the 
former when paraded through the streets 
of Miako. Then again, as they drew near 
Nangasasky, they were apprehensive lest 
the governor who w^as charged to see 
the sentence carried into execution on 
reading the list of twenty-four, and not 
finding their names there, might pro- 
bably exclude them. But as this was one 
of those gifts which God has not sub- 
jected to human caprice, nothing could 
deprive them of it. 

As for the governer of Nangasasky % 
although he was certified by trustworthy 
witnesses of the cause of their accompany- 
ing the prisoners, and of the ^arbitrary 
and treacherous conduct of the guards 
who arrested them, nothing could alter 
his determination of putting them to 
death. " As they have fallen into my 
hands," said this fanatical heathen, " I 
think it far safer to slay them now that 
they are in custody, than to enlarge them 
because their names are not on the list." 
Thus with their newly added companions 



108 LIVES OF THE 

our martyrs entered Facata on the last 
day of January. Many of the Christian 
inhabitants waited on them soon after their 
arrival, and nothing could excel the ten- 
derness and affection with which they 
were received by the former, to one of 
whom, named Diego Cogen, an intimate 
of Paul Michi, the latter confided a letter 
to be sent with all possible speed to the 
Viceprovincial, Gomez. The same kind 
sympathizer was charged with another 
letter by the Commissary, Peter Baptist, 
which was addressed to Father Antonio 
Lopez, rector of Nangasasky. Both letters 
were written a long time before in Cata- 
cabe, in the kingdom of Bigen, but the 
martyrs could not find anyone to take 
charge of them till they arrived in Facata. 
They both contained one simple request, 
and that was that the governor Terazava 
would allow them to celebrate Mass and 
receive the holy Eucharist. The Commis- 
sary's letter ran thus. " Twenty-four of 
us have set out from Miako, and we are all 
condemned to be crucified in Nangasasky, 
Three of us belong to tlie Society of 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 109 

Jesus ; six to the Franciscan order, and the 
rest are Japanese, some of whom are 
preachers. I implore your Paternity to 
obtain permission from the governor that 
Ave may be allowed to receive the most 
holy Sacrament two days before our sen- 
tence is carried into execution. We also 
request leave to receive the bishop's bene- 
diction, and to visit the Fathers of your 
college, to whose prayers we earnestly 
recommend ourselves. Catacabe, in the 
kingdom of Bigen, the 16th day of Jan,, 
1597." 

Paul Michi's letter runs thus : " We are 
sentenced to die on the cross. Let not 
your Paternity be troubled about us; for, 
through God's infinite goodness we find 
our consolation and joy in Him; and 
our only desire now is, that some day 
before arriving in Nangasasky (for when 
we reach that place it may be too late), 
one of the Fathers of the Society may 
come to hear our confessions. This is the 
more necessary since the Franciscan 
Fathers are not very conversant with our 
language, and we cannot, therefore, con- 



110 LIVES OF THE 

fess to them, as we would wish. It would 
be a great happiness if you would send us 
Father Pasio. The twenty-four* of us 
are now animated by the same desire, 
namely — to hear Mass and receive the 
Holy Sacrament, at least once before we 
are crucified. Obtain for us* this favour 
from Terazava or his deputy in Nanga- 
sasky," Both Fathers submitted this re- 
quest to the deputy, who gave them kind 
promises ; but, eventually, owing to some 
recent circumstances, he absolutely refused 
to keep his word. 

The man who acted so faithlessly was the 
idolatrous Fazamburo, brother of Tera- 
zava— then absent on public business in 
another province — so that the former was 
commissioned by the imperial cabinet to 
see the sentence carried into execution. 
On learning, therefore, that the Martyrs 
were approaching he gave orders for fifty 
crosses to be got ready in Nangasasky ; 
and as soon as the citizens (multitudes of 
whom were Christians) heard of this pro- 

* This letter was written before they were joined 
by the two Japanese. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. Ill 

c ceding they began to ask one another 
" Why fifty crosses, if the condemned are 
only twenty- four? Are we to supply the 
twenty-six, in order to make up the defi- 
ciency? Can it be that God desires to 
show us that we are dear to Him? But 
who are to be the chosen ones ? Can the 
deputy have received secret instructions 
from court to guide him in the selection, 
or can he act arbitrarily and give the mar- 
tyr's crown to whom he pleases?" The 
Fathers — and, above all, Peter Martinez, 
the bishop — thought that they themselves 
were to be the happy victims, and their 
hopes were grounded on some letters re- 
ceived from Miako. Then, again, the 
Portuguese traders and the Spaniards who 
had been shipwrecked fancied that they 
were destined for martyrdom ; and, in- 
deed, every i Japanese Christian, who had 
deserved well of the faith, was ready to 
assert his claims to a cross. 



112 LIVES OF THE 



DISCOVERY OF MIRACULOUS CRUCIFIXES, PRE- 
SAGING MARTYRDOM ON THE CROSS. 

In the midstof this universal preparation for 
death the Christians were reminded of an 
ominous event which occurred seven years 
before, and the import of which was never 
made patent till now. Three short leagues 
from Arima there is a place called Obama, 
whither one Leo, a devout Christian, sent 
his son, Michael, to hew wood for fuel, 
on the vigil of the Nativity, 1589. The 
tree which the latter selected for his axe 
was withered, leafless, and held in great 
veneration by the heathen natives, who, on 
each recurring new-year's day, used to 
fasten its branches to their doors, to keep 
out, as they foolishly imagined, evil spirits. 
After lopping off a good portion of the 
branches, Michael was about to split the 
trunk when night came and compelled him 
to go home. Next morning, however, he 
resumed his work, and with two or three 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 113 

strokes of the axe divided the trunk into 
two equal halves ; but who could describe 
his amazement when he beheld in its inner 
rind an exquisite crucifix — exquisite as the 
handof painter or sculptor could produce — 
just as if it had grown there, incorporated 
with the wood. There, under his eyes, 
was the holy symbol of salvation with all 
its details ! He gazed at it for a moment ; 
and then, overcome by terror, flung down 
his axe, and ran off to bring his father to 
witness the miraculous sight. Intelligence 
of this discovery soon reached our Fathers 
in Arima; and, after visiting the mys- 
terious cross, they made a deposition of 
all the incidents connected with that 
portentous event. Nay, more, they had 
the crucifix conveyed to their church; 
and Peter Martinez, bishop of Japan, 
caused it to be enclosed in a rich silver 
shrine. But, what rendered it still more 
venerable, was the virtue which God 
imparted to it ; for, many were cured of 
various infirmities by touching it, and 
many were released from the power of 
the devil, by praying before it. Thence- 



114 LIVES OF THE 

forth, crowds of pilgrims from Bungo, 
Amangucci, and Miako, resorted to it 
by land and sea, nay, and rivalled each 
other in their pious anxiety to obtain a par- 
ticle of it, or of the tree in which it was 
discovered. Among the earliest of those 
pilgrims, was king John of Arima, who, 
on beholding it, clapped his hands, and 
exclaimed: "Tis it, 'tis it!" And then, 
addressing one of our Fathers, reminded 
him of a dream which he related to him 
six months before, and which neither of 
them remembered till now. In fact, the 
king dreamt one night that he saw two 
venerable personages standing at his bed- 
side, and heard them reproach him gently 
for his tepidity, and his want of punc- 
tuality in assisting at the holy sacrifice, 
from which he often absented himself 
without good cause. Who those person- 
ages were he knew not, but their aspect 
proved that they came from heaven. 
They exhorted him to resume his early 
fervour, and follow the advice and direc- 
tion of the Fathers ; and concluded with 
the following announcement : " Know that 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 115 

a symbol of Jesus will be discovered in 
thy kingdom; prize it, for it was not 
made by hand of man;" and having 
said this they vanished. The king related 
this dream to Father Gomez next morn-* 
fog, and also to many others; and he 
himself derived comfort and redoubled 
fervour from the mysterious forewarning. 
But what the symbol was, where it was 
to be sought for, or whether it would 
manifest itself, neither he nor they could 
tell; and, in fact, till now, he had all but 
forgotten the dream. Now, however, 
when he saw the cross, dream and admo- 
nition came back on his recollection, and 
he knew that what he had heard was a 
prophecy, and that the sacred object 
before him was the symbol of Jesus Christ, 
and not the work of human hands, as was 
most manifest to all. In a little more than 
two years afterwards ; that is to say, on 
the 7th February > 1592, the same miracle 
was repeated in Facunda, the territory of 
Santio, prince of Omura. 

Indeed many other crosses were dis- 
covered at this period under still more 



116 LIVES OF THE 

mysterious circumstances ; and each of the 
holy symbols was greatly venerated by 
the faithful who drew their own conclu- 
sions from such foreshadowings. Some, 
indeed, inferred that the crosses thus 
brought to light portended that the faith 
was about to triumph in Japan; others 
fancied that they were meant by heaven 
to supply the places of the sacred sym- 
bols which Taicosama caused to be demo- 
lished; but many who saw farther into 
the future, were persuaded that such 
signal manifestations — evidently the work 
of angelic hands — w r ere signs of persecu- 
tion and death on the cross — for it is thus 
the Japanese execute capital punishment. 
The latter was the more universally 
received conclusion, particularly as Paz- 
amburo had given orders for so many 
crosses; but it subsequently transpired 
that this was merely an artifice of his own 
contriving to overawe the Christians. 
The deputy, however, deceived himself ; 
for, far from terrifying the converted 
Japanese, Father Gomez, the Vicepro- 
vincial, found it necessary to moderate the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 117 

over-ardent zeal of the multitudes who, 
in their anxiety for martyrdom, presented 
themselves to the barbarian, openly avow- 
ing that they were Christians, and pre- 
pared to die for Jesus Christ. Thus, 
indeed, did the Christians comport them- 
selves in Nangasasky, Ozaca, Miako, and 
in short, throughout all Japan, every- 
where proclaiming their willingness to 
offer themselves victims for the Redeemer's 
law. But to show how wide-spread was 
this holy desire for martyrdom, w r e will 
here relate two simple incidents which 
prove that even children of tenderest years 
were actuated by the same heavenly senti- 
ments. 

One night a distinguished citizen of 
Nangasasky and his wife were conversing 
about their approaching martyrdom, and 
making ready the apparel they wished to 
wear on the occasion, little thinking that 
they had been overheard by one of their 
children — a little boy, aged eleven— w r ho, 
with a younger brother, was in bed in the 
same apartment, and, as the parents 
fancied, fast asleep. The child, however, 

h2 



118 LIVES OF THE 

treasured every word that fell from their 
lips, and when they ceased conversing, he 
sprang from his bed and coming before 
them said: " You are preparing to die for 
the faith, and why would you conceal 
your intention from me?" He then 
implored them to tell him candidly what 
they had resolved on, and they, either 
believing that they had been overheard, 
or wishing to ascertain how the boy would 
take the announcement, told him that 
they had made up their minds to die 
martyrs. On hearing this the child's joy 
became almost ecstatic, and he expressed 
himself thus: "I thank God for this 
signal favor, and I congratulate you and 
myself; for, assuredly, you will not die 
without me." Then remembering his little 
brother who was asleep, he pointed to his 
bed, and asked the father what was to 
become of him? The reply was, "He, 
you, and all of us will share the same 
blessed destiny ; all of us will die for the 
faith/ " Then, rejoined the child, 
" we will all go to paradise. ; I desire 
nothing more, my happiness is complete." 



MARTYRS OF J A PAX. 119 

Another fact has been recorded of a noble 
child, aged five years, who, on learning 
that the heathens were coming fromMiako 
to murder the faithful in Nangasasky, was 
asked by one of our Fathers what he 
would say if he were questioned about his 
religion. " I will tell them openly," replied 
the heroic child, " that I am a Christian." 
" But, then, they will' kill you," observed 
the Father. " Be it so," said the child; 
" and here is what I will do," with this he 
flung himself on his knees and stooped 
his head, as though he were about to re- 
ceive the stroke of a scimitar. " But," 
resumed the father, " while you are wait- 
ing for the executioner, and when you 
are on the- point of losing your life, what 
will you say ? : ' Here the poor child think- 
ing that he did not know what words he 
should utter at such a crisis burst into tears ; 
but being encouraged by the Father, he 
returned the following answer. " I will 
invoke the holy names of Jesus and 
Mary, till the executioners cut my throat, 
but if there be anything else that I should 
know "you must teach it „to me," 



120 LIVES OF THE 



XI 

VARIOUS INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE MARTYRS 
IN THE VICINITY OF NANGASASKY — FAZAM- 

BURO'S AFFECTION FOR PAUL MICHI PAUL'S 

JOY AND FERVOR JOHN SOAN AND JAMES 

CHISAI MAKE THEIR RELIGIOUS VOWS — RE- 
SPECT SHOWN TO THE MARTYRS BY THE CHRIS- 
TIANS — John's interview with his father. 

Meanwhile, our band of faithful cham- 
pions had reached Sononghi (situated 
within the territory of the king of Omura), 
some eight or nine leagues from Nanga- 
sasky, which was destined to be their last 
halting-place in this life, and the scene of 
their glorious triumph! Of their own 
accord, and to show respect for the place 
of their martyrdom, they proceeded on 
foot for some distance — with difficulty, 
indeed, for their limbs were frost-bitten 
and benumbed. However, as the greater 
part of the remainder of the journey 
was to be made in boats, they acted 
thus for the reasons already assigned 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 121 

During this short march — so painful and 
reverential — they were allowed to rest 
themselves by the wayside for some mo- 
ments ; but Father Peter Baptist, the 
Commissary, had scarcely seated himself 
among his companions when he began to 
weep, as though some mournful memo- 
ries had risen up before his mind. Ob- 
serving this, the guards who, during the 
whole journey from Miako,had never seen 
the shadow of sorrow on the prisoners' 
countenances — nay, not even a single tear 
— began to jeer them thus: — " Ah, they 
now discover that they are not far from 
Nangasasky ! They now are thinking of 
the crosses on which they shall be fixed 
to-morrow. 'Tis one thing to contemplate 
death at a distance, and another to find 
oneself in the gripe of the executioner! 
They have now abandoned their joyous- 
ness for wailing !" So spake the guards, 
some of whom compassionated the Mar- 
tyrs, while the majority of their fellows 
treated them contemptuously, fancying 
that the fear of approaching death was 
the cause of the Commissary's tears. On 



122 LIVES OF THE 

hearing and seeing all this, our Paul im- 
plored the Commissary to moderate his 
devotion- and weep no more, as the rude 
men by whom they were surrounded mis- 
took his motives, and attributed his conduct 
to cowardice. Thereon the Commissary 
did as Paul directed, and told brother 
Gonzales, who understood the Japanese 
language, to inform the guards that his 
tears were not caused by the fear of death, 
as they foolishly imagined. " Quite the 
contrary," continued the Martyr, " for 
why should I fear to sacrifice my life 
for an object so grand and holy — the 
salvation of souls? Tell them I have 
wept, because I came to Japan with the 
hope of being able to found a house of 
my Order among them, and now find 
I have not been able to realize my pro- 
ject." But neither then nor since has 
any house of his, or any other religious 
Order, been established in Japan, whose 
inhabitants, alas ! are ignorant of God and 
the faith of Jesus Christ. The time 
appointed in the Eternal decrees-, for en- 
lightening that unhappy people, has not 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 123 

yet come. True it is, indeed, that the 
precious seeds of so much blood broadcast 
by innumerable champions of the faith — 
Europeans and Japanese of every grade 
and condition — lie there, as it were, dead, 
and down-trodden in the soil. True it 
is, that for a term of fifty years, after the 
events of which we are writing, the 
whole of that idolatrous region was 
deeply dyed with Christian blood. Never- 
theless, it will one day fructify a hundred 
fold, notwithstanding the barrenness of 
the soil. But that shall not be till God turns 
his* merciful eyes on Japan, and then, 
indeed, whosoever goes to tend the Lord's 
vineyard there, will find an abundant 
harvest, for which they will be indebted 
to the toils and blood of its first cultiva- 
tors. Fazamburo, the deputy-governor, 
was awaiting the arrival of the Martyrs 
in Sononghi, whither he came from 
Nangoia to take charge of them, and 
escort them to the place of their execu- 
tion. He and Paul Michi, we should 
observe, were very fond of each other; 
so much so, indeed, that Fazamburo 



124 LIVES OF THE 

often went to hear his friend discoursing 
on the mysteries of our holy faith. Now, 
however, he had a terrible duty to per- 
form — the friend, whom he so loved* was 
consigned to his hands, to be put to death 
on an infamous cross. The very idea of 
it affected Fazamburo deeply, and he 
could not repress his tears. But our 
saint turned on him a look of delight, 
and said: "You have no reason to weep, 
but you should rather envy me my death, 
opprobrious as it may seem to you. Re- 
member, that the only crime laid to my 
charge is, that I preached the law of 
Christ — a law somewhat known to you 
— and that my sole crime has been to 
save 'souls from eternal ruin, and point 
out the one way that leads to everlasting 
blessedness. Instead, therefore, of tears 
and sympathy which my death does not 
require, grant me as a pledge of your 
affection, what I prize most, time and 
facility to confess our sins, and receive 
the Lord's body and blood." To this 
the Commissary added another request, 
namely, that he would cause them to be 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 125 

crucified on Friday. Fazamburo granted 
all they desired, for as yet the suspicions 
to which we will allude hereafter had not 
warped his goodness of heart. On taking 
charge of the prisoners, the boy Louis, of 
whom we have spoken, arrested his atten- 
tion ; and partly through sympathy for the 
lad, and partly in the hope of attaching 
him to his suite — for, indeed, he was a 
boy of quick parts — he told him that he 
would save his life if he agreed to enter 
his service in the capacity of a page. 
Hereon Louis answered : " I am altogether 
in the Commissary's hands." Hearing this 
the latter said: " Tell him you will do so 
provided he allows you to remain a Chris- 
tian, and pledges himself to keep his 
word." To this the deputy rejoined: 
"Certainly not, and the condition on which 
I would release you is, that you will first 
renounce the Christian religion and em- 
brace mine." But Louis was not to be 
shaken, and he calmly replied: " On such 
a worthless condition as you propose I 
reject the offer of life. Would you have 
me barter eternal happiness for a few 



126 LIVES OF THE 

fleeting years of temporal existence ? On 
hearing this Fazamburo turned away and 
proceeded to Nangasasky. In the mean 
time Fathers Francis Pasio and John 
Rodriguez were in search of him ; for, on 
receipt of the letters addressed by our 
Paul and the commissary to the Vice- 
provincial Gomez, the latter lost no time 
in sending his brethren to wait on the 
deputy, in the hope of obtaining from 
him what the prisoners so earnestly de- 
sired. In fact Father Pasio and his com- 
panion had brought with them all that 
was necessary for the celebration of the 
holy Sacrifice, and a letter from the Vice- 
provincial, in which the latter besought 
Fazamburo to grant the Commissary's 
prayer. They did not, however, overtake 
him, for he had gone off by another road : 
*and the guards who were only too anxious 
to'get rid of their prisoners would not allow 
the Fathers to see any of the martyrs. An 
exception, however, was made in favor of 
Father Rodriguez, whose title — interpre- 
ter to Taicosama — they concluded, justi- 
fied them in allowing him to visit the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 127 

Martyrs. On being admitted to the pri- 
soners Father Rodriguez tenderly em- 
braced them one by one, and nothing 
could exceed the heartfelt affection which 
each and all of them evinced. The six 
Franciscans, and our three, with the other 
seventeen laics, burst into tears, but above 
all, Father Peter Baptist, the Commissary, 
to whom Rodriguez read the death sen- 
tence, a copy of which he had brought 
along with him. They wept, indeed, but 
theirs were tears of delight and consolation, 
for it would appear that the Commissary 
had only a vague notion of the manner in 
which he was to be put to death. Father 
Rodriguez further told him that the bishop, 
Peter Martinez, spoke of them in a sermon 
which he had some short time before 
preached to the Portuguese, and elo- 
quently commended, 3 as they deserved, 
the courage and fortitude with which they 
were about to glorify God in their passion. 
" Christianity," said the bishop, " has been 
wounded by their death and consoled by 
their unflinching heroism." On this the 
Commissary modestly requested him to 



128 LIVES OF THE 

tell the prelate what he had seen, and how 
ardently they all desired to lay down their 
lives for the faith. 

Rodriguez then addressed himself to 
Paul Michi, to whom he gave the various 
messages with which he was charged by 
our brethren ; informing him at the same 
time that they all envied him the blessed 
destiny which heaven had in store for him 
— that they desired nothing so much as to 
share his lot, and that they were all offer- 
ing the holy sacrifice, their penances, and 
prayers to God for him and his two com- 
panions. Hearing this, Paul was greatly 
delighted, and remarked to Rodriguez 
that deplorable as was the actual state of 
the Japanese Christians, we (the Jesuits) 
were not in bad plight at the imperial 
court; and that his conviction was, that 
his death and that of his companions, 
instead of diminishing the number of the 
faithful, would rather bring over great 
multitudes to the Church. " Remember," 
continued he, " that during our thirty 
days' journey I was continually preaching, 
and listened to attentively. This will 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 129 

surely redound to the benefit of our holy 
faith. In the very prison of Ozaca I 
baptized six infidels, who pressed me 
urgently to do so, in order that they 
might hold in remembrance that they were 
born Christians in a dungeon, and regene- 
rated by one, who was going to die for the 
faith which they embraced." One of the 
foresaid was a wealthy and distinguished 
military man, who subsequently visited 
Paul in Miako, and openly avowed himself 
a Christian. " These," he continued, " are 
indubitable signs that the faith has great 
power to bring the idolators to embrace 
it — a power which will, doubtless, keep 
the Christians from abandoning it through 
fear of present death." And, indeed, he 
spoke the truth, for his sole exertions won 
more infidels to Christ than did the labours 
of anyone else ; so much so, that the con- 
verts far outnumbered those who, unfor- 
tunately, relapsed into idolatry. At last, 
Rodriguez embraced our other two, John 
and James, and promised them in the 
Viceprovincial's name that they would be 
speedily permitted to make the three 



130 LIVES OF THE 

religious vows. He finally told the two 
Japanese, who had come over to the faith 
during the journey, as we have narrated, 
that he congratulated them and their con- 
verted fellow-countrymen on their en- 
viable lot; and then gathering all the 
Japanese together, he gave them, in their 
own language (of which he was thoroughly 
master), an exhortation worthy of his zeal, 
and suited to the circumstances of those 
whom he addressed. His words struck 
deep root in their good hearts, and, as we 
may imagine, afforded them ineffable com- 
fort. At parting they all wept. When 
separated by the guards, who would not 
allow them to remain any longer together, 
Rodriguez rejoined Father Pasio, and pro- 
ceeded that night to wait on Fazamburo 
in Nangasasky. The deputy, however, 
had changed his mind in the interval, 
and w T as no longer disposed to realise 
the promises which he had made to 
the Commissary and Paul Michi. Fa- 
zamburo's original intention was, cer- 
tainly, to have the Martyrs conducted 
to Nangasasky and lodged in the stock- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 13 L 

aded prison, which he caused to be erected 
for them in that place ; but remembering 
the more than fraternal love which the 
Christians cherished for one another, and 
that nearly the entire population of the 
city professed that religion, nay, more, 
that there was a considerable number of 
Spaniards* and Portuguese there at the 
time, it occurred to him that an attempt 
might be made to rescue the condemned. 
And, indeed, nothing could have been 
more feasible, had the Europeans and 
native Christians so willed it. What 
force had the deputy at his command to 
counteract such an enterprize, if it was 
once set on foot? 

Eeflecting thus, he resolved to follow 
the safer course, which was to execute the 
Martyrs on the very spot where malefac- 
tors were usually put to death, a short dis- 
tance from the city, and on the high road 
along which our heroic band was ap- 
proaching. Thus, he would be rid of 

* The former belonged to the ship Philip that 
was wrecked, and the latter to the merchant 
vessels that traded with Japan. 



132 LIVES OF THE 

them on the instant. He, therefore, 
lost no time in causing holes to be dug 
for the twenty-six crosses, which, in 
obedience to his order, were brought forth 
from Nangasasky; and he, at the same 
time, despatched officers to various quar- 
ters on the Martyrs' route, forbidding the 
people, at the peril of their lives, to leave 
their houses for the purpose of witnessing 
the crucifixion, The Bishop, the Fathers, 
Europeans, and Japanese, were all com- 
prised in this interdict. Nevertheless, 
as Fazamburo wished to realise as much 
of his former promise as he thought 
prudent, he, on that very night, sent a 
message to our Fathers, stating, that 
unforeseen and serious circumstances 
prevented him from doing all that he 
meant to have done; but that Father 
Pasio and Rodriguez might come to the 
palace early next morning, when he would 
place them under the protection of one 
of his officers, who would be authorized 
to halt the escort while our three religious 
were making their confessions. The 
Fathers obeyed the summons, and as they 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 133 

-were about leaving the deputy's presence, 
he desired them to inform the other 
prisoners that he would not grant them 
the privilege of hearing Mass or dying 
on Friday. " For," said he, " that is not a 
necessity but a consolation, and those who 
are about to die for their religion are 
sure of salvation." Nevertheless our two 
Fathers urged their request so earnestly, 
that he at last, with great difficulty, 
allowed them to be present at the Martyrs' 
death. With that they left the palace. 
Father Pasio set out to await their arrival 
in the little chapel of St Lazarus, which 
was situated in Uracami, not far from 
the place of execution, and Father 
Rodriguez, accompanied by the officer, 
hastened to meet them on the road, 
in order to inform them that they 
would be put to death at the next halting 
place. 

They were now coming from Tochizo, 
whither they were brought by sea from 
Sononghi, and all of them, with the ex- 
ception of the six Franciscans, had their 
hands tied behind their backs, and as it were 

I 



134 LIVES OF THE 

to prevent the possibility of drowning 
themselves (as the heathens foolishly sus- 
pected), they were made fast to one 
another by a rope twisted round their 
necks. Nor should we omit mentioning 
that they were not allowed to come on 
shore during the whole of that long 
inclement night, but were forced to 
remain on the deck exposed to the intense 
cold. 

Father Rodriguez met them within a 
league of Nangasasky, and he instantly 
told the Commissary (who was obliged to 
ride on horseback) and his companions, 
all of whom were on foot, that they 
should prepare themselves for death, as 
they were now. fast approaching the goal 
of their earthly pilgrimage. These holy 
men received the announcement with 
great joy, and gave thanks to God for 
the honor He was about to confer on 
them. " In fact," says Father Rodriguez, 
describing this incident, " one would have 
supposed that they were on their way to 
some high festival!" Having joined the 
glorious heroes, our good Father went 
from one to another, addressing a few 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 135 

but fervent words to each — words which 
were suggested by that God whom he 
loved so ardently — nay, and by that 
fervor of spirit which he beheld in the 
Martyrs. In performing this charitable 
duty, he had to encounter many a rebuff 
from the rude soldiers ; and some of the 
most distinguished citizens, who, antici- 
pating the arrival of the heroic band, 
made their way through the crowd to 
embrace them, were subjected to the same 
harsh treatment. 

On reaching the church of St. Lazarus, 
the officer whom we have already men- 
tioned halted the entire party, and our 
three brethren, with their hands tied 
behind their backs, made their confession 
to Father Pasio. At the same time, the 
two catechists John, and James, consecrated 
themselves to God by the three vows of 
the Society. 

Meanwhile, when the news of their 
arrival reached Nangasasky, many of the 
principal inhabitants, the Portuguese 
among others, obtained Fazamburo's per- 
mission to visit the Martyrs, for the pur- 



136 LIVES OF THE 

pose of imparting and obtaining consola- 
tion on this august ocasion. The Portu- 
guese, moreover, memorialed the deputy 
to appoint some other place for the execu- 
tion ; for, that where criminals were 
usually put to death was, so to say, infa- 
mous, and nowise worthy of the grand 
event w T hich was about to take place. 
There were also many crosses there with 
the rotting bodies of malefactors still 
clinging to them ; and it was for these rea- 
sons that the Portuguese petitioned 
Fazamburo to allow our Martyrs to die in 
some spot more in keeping with their in- 
nocence. In fact, they pointed out a place 
for the purpose, where they meant to 
erect, at some subsequent period, a church, 
sacred to our Lady of Martyrs ; and, in 
making this request, they acted according 
to the instructions of our Fathers, with 
whom they had preconcerted the whole 
matter. They also asked that the crosses 
would be erected close to each other, and 
that a certain order should be observed 
in crucifying the condemned, and this, as 
we shall see, was eventually carried out. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 137 

In fact, Fazamburo granted all that they 
asked of him, and affirmed that it pained 
him to have any hand in the death of 
these innocent men, whose generosity and 
fortitude he could not help admiring. If 
anything grieved him more than another 
it was the fate of his dear friend Paul 
Michi. Nevertheless, he had an official 
duty to perform, and he was bound to 
discharge it. " Bear in mind," concluded 
the deputy, " that if this duty had been 
confided to any other of Taicosama's 
officers, he would have dealt far more 
rigorously with your martyrs, nay, and 
with all the Christians of Nangasasky, not 
excepting the princes of Arima and 
Omura, over whose territories I exercise 
jurisdiction and command. In fact, were 
I so disposed, I might destroy them and 
utterly exterminate the Christians of their 
states." While the crosses were being 
removed to the new site, and the execu- 
tioners were making every thing ready, 
the martyrs, who were still in the church 
of Saint Lazarus, had more leisure to 
prepare themselves for death. The faith- 

i2 



138 LIVES OF THE 

f ul availing themselves of the opportunity, 
came in crowds to visit and embrace them, 
each one recommending himself to their 
prayers, and imploring them to keep them 
in remembrance when they were in the 
kingdom of God, for assuredly their 
blessed souls were about to soar from the 
cross to paradise ! Piety and veneration 
like this, though justly due to these holy 
men, was, however, intolerable in their 
estimation, and on hearing themselves 
called " Blessed and Martyrs," they in- 
stantly cried out, " no, no, we are sinners ; 
regard us as such, and beseech God that 
our blood may suffice to wash every stain 
from our souls." Thus did each of thern 
feel and speak. Three Portuguese cast 
themselves at PaulMichi's feet, and in that 
lowly posture strove to embrace his knees. 
Not knowing their language, he could 
make no reply, but the blood mounted to 
his cheeks, and told what was working in 
his heart ; in short, he dragged himself out 
of their hands. His reply to some of his 
own countrymen, who were desirous of 
honouring him in a similar manner, was 



MARTYRS OF JAPAX. 139 

characterised by severity of look and 
word. "Why," he asked, " would you 
afflict me at this critical moment ? Give 
to God these acts of humiliation which are 
ill-bestowed on me ; and if you love me 
beseech Him to pardon me a sinner, for I 
am such. Implore Him to accept this 
miserable life of mine, which I willingly 
offer to Him on the cross as an atonement 
for my sins; and that it may be acceptable 
in His sight pray, I beseech you, that my 
cross and my death may be united to that 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." Nevertheless 
this holy man was so animated by the 
grace of God, that the fire which glowed 
in his heart was reflected in his features ; 
in fact, he looked like one in an ecstacy, as 
he went about hither and thither address- 
ing his Japanese companions, and the 
bystanders in their native tongue, and 
repeating what he had already confided to 
Father Rodriguez, namely, that their 
death would increase the number of the 
faithful and prove highly advantageous to 
the spread of the faith. He pronounced 
these words in a tone of such emphatic 



140 LIVES OF THE 

earnestness, that those who heard them 
concluded that the future must have been 
revealed to his eyes. As for the good old 
James, he too, was enraptured at the con- 
templation of his happy lot, for he told all 
those who approached him, that Heaven 
had bestowed upon him w T ithin the com- 
pass of a few short hours, two graces 
greater than which he could not desire. 
" Congratulate me, congratulate me," he 
repeated over and over, " for I am now 
a religious of the Society, and I am about 
to die in the service of God — a witness for 
the truth." He felt grieved, however, by 
the importunity of certain Christians who 
after embracing him, asked him for an 
old handkerchief that was fastened at his 
girdle, which they wished to preserve as 
a memorial. Well knowing that they 
would have regarded it as a relic, he re- 
fused to comply with the request; but as 
his hands were tied behind his back, he 
could not prevent them from carrying off 
what they so much desired. 

The interview which the j^outhful John 
had with his father, when the latter came 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 141 

to give and take the last adieu, impressed 
all those who witnessed it with wonder and 
delight. But we should observe that 
neither on the present occasion, nor when 
they met again at the foot of the cross was 
there a single tear shed, or a word of sorrow 
spoken by any of the parties. And this was 
as it should be ; for assuredly the youthful 
Martyr's foot was already on the threshold 
of heaven ! The parent deported himself 
with fortitude, and listened attentively to 
John, who exhorted him to obey the law 
of God, and secure for himself everlasting 
salvation by living a good life. As for 
the old man, he implored his child, then in 
his ninteenth year, to die joyfully, and 
with that fixedness of purpose that was 
required of one who lays down his life in 
honour of Christ, and as a witness for the 
faith. " Your mother and I," said the old 
man, "envy you; and should it at any 
time please God to select us for the honour 
you are about to enjoy, we also will gladly 
give our blood for the same holy cause." 
John then charged his parent to wait on 
Father Peter de Morecon, doubtless for 



142 LIYES OF THE 

the purpose of being remembered in the 
prayers of that good man whom he (John) 
had long assisted in the office of catechist, 
and from whose example he derived that 
firmness and consolation which he dis- 
played at this awful moment. All the 
Martyrs now caused the reliquaries and 
rosaries which they wore round their necks 
to be taken off, lest they might fall into 
the hands of the idolators ; ■ but they 
retained the medals and other devotional 
objects to which indulgences were attached, 
Father Francis Pasio then embraced the 
six Franciscans and all his friends and 
acquaintances ; and, with the aforesaid 
treasure in his possession, hurried back 
to Nangasasky. His chief motive in act- 
ing thus was not to thank Fazamburo for 
the brief respite he had given to the 
Martyrs, but rather to obtain his permis- 
sion to be present at the crucifixion— a 
favour which the escort would not grant 
him. The deputy, however, gave the 
necessary license. As for the bishop, 
Peter Martinez, all his earnest entreaties 
proved ineffectual ; for, Fazamburo told 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 143 

him that the presence of a personage such 
as he was, would exasperate Taicosama to 
the last degree. The prelate, therefore, 
as he could render the Martyrs no other 
service, sent them his benediction. 



XII. 

JAPANESE CROSSES. — HOW THE JAPANESE CRUCIFY 
THEIR CRIMINALS. — INTERESTING INCIDENTS RE- 
LATING TO THE, TWENTY-SIX CRUCIFIED MARTYRS. 
—PAUL MICHI ADDRESSES THE SPECTATORS FROM 
HIS CROSS. 

A short time afterwards an officer arrived 
from Nangasasky with a letter signed by 
Fazamburo, directing that the condemned 
should be put to death instantly. On 
receiving this intelligence, our Martyrs, 
no longer able to suppress their joy, 
thanked God for the favour he had con- 
ferred on them, and gave free course to 
the holy sentiments by which they all 
were animated. They embraced and 
encouraged each other with the most 
affecting tenderness ; so much so, that 



144 LIVES OF THE 

those who witnessed this most solemn 
scene were one and all moved to tears. 
The spot destined for the crucifixion 
was a gentle hill on the road-side near 
the sea-shore, and within view of Nanga- 
sasky. The level ground on the summit 
of this eminence, afforded ample space for 
the twenty-six crosses, which were to be 
erected side by side, and within three or 
four paces of each other ; and Fazamburo, 
probably apprehending an attempt at 
rescue, ordered detachments of musket- 
eers and halberdiers to occupy the 
greater part of the ground. Within 
some eight paces of the crosses, the men- 
at-arms were drawn out in two long 
lines, and they were all provided with 
heavy clubs for the purpose of keeping 
the space clear, so that no one should 
enter the enclosure except the execu- 
tioners and Fathers Pasio and Rodri- 
guez, who had obtained permission to be 
present. 

The Japanese crosses, along with the 
upper transverse beam for the arms, have 
also a lower one to which the legs are 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 145 

fastened; not overlapping each other, 
or drawn downwards perpendicularly, 
but stretched wide apart, and right in 
the centre of the shaft they are furnished 
with a projecting bracket, on which the 
condemned is supported (just as on 
horseback) after the cross has been 
raised up and set firm in the ground. We 
need hardly tell our readers that the object 
Gf this latter contrivance is, to protract 
the life of the condemned in greater 
torment and agony. In this most barbar- 
ous capital punishment, instead of nails 
they use four rings, or manacles, fastened 
to the cross, two above for the wrists, 
and two below for the instep of the foot. 
The neck is secured by an iron collar; 
and they sometimes fasten the waist of 
the criminal to the gibbet either by an 
iron hoop or a stout cord. The arms are 
secured in like manner. Our Martyrs 1 
feet and wrists were fastened by means 
of iron rings, while some had their waists 
secured with iron hoops, and others with 
pieces of rope. We have already assigned 
the motives for this most cruel arrange- 



146 LIVES OF THE . 

ment; but it may interest the reader to 
know that the Japanese leave their crimi- 
nals on the cross long after they are 
killed- — till, in a word, decomposition 
sets in, and they fall, bone by bone, to 
the ground. Nor are we to suppose that 
they strip the condemned naked ; on the 
contrary, every one is crucified in his own 
clothes, no matter how sumptuous the 
apparel. The condemned, moreover, are 
extended on the cross while it is yet 
lying flat on the ground ; but when it is 
raised up and secured in its socket, they 
either leave them to drag out a few days 
of most intolerable life, or despatch them 
on the instant. In the latter case, they 
usually give the unhappy wretch one or 
two thrusts of a spear; first in the 
right side, so that the weapon's point 
may protrude immediately under the left 
shoulder blade, and the second in the 
left side, and coming out under the shoul- 
der blade opposite, so that both weapons 
may be said to cross each other. The 
instruments employed in this, horrible 
work, are long, broad-bladed, and very 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 147 

sharp; and, indeed, they seldom fail to 
reach the heart at the first stroke. As 
for the executioners, they are exceed- 
ingly expert in their abominable art, of 
which they are very proud, deeming it a 
grand thing to be able to destroy life 
with a single thrust. When, however, 
they choose to torture the victim, they 
are sparing of their science ; and some- 
times take special pleasure in cutting the 
arteries of his throat. 

Surrounded by the guards, our Martyrs 
were now led up to the place where the 
crosses awaited them. But who could 
describe the fervour and joy with which 
they beheld the symbol of redemption? 
Some cast themselves down on their knees 
before it ; some embraced it with pious 
affection — some with eyes raised to hea- 
ven, made an offering of themselves to 
God ; and some, too, begged earnestly that 
they might be nailed to their crosses. 
Brother Martin on seeing the one destined 
for him, chanted in a loud voice the Bene- 
dictus Dominus Deus Israel; and the little 
Louis, whose tender heart was so full of 



148 LIVES OF THE 

God, on learning from one of the execu- 
tioners that the shortest of the entire 
number was meant for him, ran to stretch 
himself upon it, exclaiming, Paradise, 
Paradise ! Fazamburo had given orders 
that thecondemned should be treated with 
every indulgence by the executioners, 
when the latter were placing them on the 
crosses ; and he further commanded that 
the executioners should despatch them 
with all possible speed. It was, no doubt, 
through some similar sentiment of human- 
ity that the deputy caused the crosses of 
the Martyrs to be planed, for those used 
in ordinary executions were generally 
shaped out of the trunks of trees, rough 
and knotty, just as they were when felled. 
Nevertheless, there were instances of 
savage ferocity on the part of the execu- 
tioners, one of which we will mention. 
Finding that Paul Michi, owing to short- 
ness of stature, was not seated astride on 
the bracket, one of those grim function- 
aries set about securin ghim with a hand- 
kerchief to the cross, while another, to 
facilitate the hideous work, planted his 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 149 

feet on the holy man's breast, in order 
to press him downwards. On seeing this, 
one of the Fathers implored the barbarian 
not to act so inhumanly, but the Saint 
rejoicing at this new humiliation turned 
his eyes on the kind Father, and said: — 
" Let him alone, he is acting as he ought." 
All these awful preliminaries being com- 
pleted by the executioners, who were as 
numerous as their victims, the crosses 
were elevated simultaneously, and secured 
in the holes which had been prepared to 
receive the lower extremity of the shafts. 
The faces of our holy Martyrs were all 
turned towards Nangasasky, where every 
housetop and window swarmed with spec- 
tators, anxious to witness the tremendous 
spectacle. In fact, every spot from the 
foot to the summit of the hill that com- 
manded a view of this sublime tragedy 
was occupied by crowds of people — num- 
bering over four thousand — Christians 
and idolators, together with all the Portu- 
guese and Spanish seamen, who could not 
be deterred by Fazamburo's proclamation. 
The infidels were attracted to the scene 



150 LIVES OF THE 

by curiosity, the Christians by devotion. 
And, indeed, it was a sight worth being 
witnessed by the entire Japanese nation ; 
for, such of them as beheld it — enemies of 
Christ as they were — could not refrain 
from shedding tears. Nor could it have 
been otherwise; for, when the crosses 
were raised into mid air a celestial joy lit 
up the features of our holy Martyrs, whose 
serenity and jubilation seemed to be a 
foretaste of that heaven which was soon 
to receive them within its portals. There 
they hung in presence of the vast multi- 
tude, with eyes raised upwards, as though 
they were making an offering of them- 
selves to God, each giving free course to 
the holy sentiments by which he was 
animated and sustained. The Commissary, 
motionless and silent, kept his eyes fixed 
on heaven. Brother Francis Blanc 
thanked God for the favour He had con- 
ferred on him. Brother Martin recited 
passages of the Psalms; and Brother 
Gonzales (a laic, from the Canary Islands), 
repeated, in an audible voice, the Pater 
Noster and the Ave Maria. Antonio, ?- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 151 

youth, thirteen years of age, sang in 
plain chant, the Laudate pueri Dominum, 
which he had learnt in. our school at 
Nangasasky where, after being baptized 
by our Fathers, he was educated and pre- 
sented to us by his parents as a candidate 
for the office of catechist. Being r how- 
ever, too young for such' an office, and on 
that account not received by us, he sub- 
sequently devoted himself to the service 
of the Franciscans. Louis on hearing one 
of the bystanders telling him "to comfort 
himself in the Lord," gave evident proof 
that his heart was filled with heavenly 
joy ; for, he motioned with his hands and 
feet as well as he could ; and such was the 
rapture tingling every nerve and muscle of 
his frame, that he seemed to dance upon 
his cross. The idolators were astounded 
at the sight, and yet this lad had been 
baptized only ten months previously. 
Among the more remarkable of our 
Society was John de Goto, who, inflamed 
with holy charity, exhorted the companion 
whose cross was next his own, to firmness 
and constancy; and, indeed, such was the 



152 LIVES OF THE 

radiant joy of his features, that he was 
the observed of all. When one of our 
Fathers, who w 7 as standing at the foot of 
his cross, told him to be mindful of heaven 
into which he would soon enter, he 
replied: " Yes, yes, be consoled, for that 
is the dearest thought of my heart.*' Right 
before him, animated with holy for- 
titude, was his own father, who, as we 
have stated, accompanied him to the place 
of execution, and wished to be present at 
his death, encouraging him from a dis- 
tance, as best he could, by gestures to 
persevere to the end in the same unflinch- 
ing Christian heroism. This man truly 
deserves to be remembered for ever ; for, 
on ascertaining that his child was dead, 
and reflecting that he was the father of a 
martyr, such rapture over-mastered every 
other feeling, that he forced his way 
through the guards, ran up to the cross 
and kissed it, plucked off fragments of his 
child's clothes, and then hastened with them 
home to his wife — a woman of rare courage 
and piety — who derived ineffable delight 
from such sanctified mementoes of victory. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 153 

But the spirit which animated Paul 
Michi during that last and grandest scene 
of his life entitled him to he regarded not 
only as a Martyr, but also as a truly apos- 
tolic hero. There, from that pulpit of the 
cross, — which, irrespective of all other 
circumstances) was itself a homily — sur- 
rounded by a vast auditory, he raised his 
voice to the highest pitch, and when uni- 
versal silence was obtained, he addressed 
the spectators thus : " Hear me, I implore 
you. I am not a stranger; nor have 
I come from the Philippine Islands. 
I am one of yourselves; a Japanese, 
and a member of the Society of Jesus. 
I have been condemned to this cross, 
not for any crime, but solely because 
I have preached the law of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. And I esteem it a great 
happiness and honor to die for that 
law; and I thank the Lord for having 
thus crowned my labours. Now approach- 
ing, as I am, the close of my days, and 
in that condition which, you may be cer- 
tain, would deter me from deceiving you, 
I here protest and declare that there is no 

k 2 



154 LIVES OF THE 

other law, and no other way of attaining 
salvation, than that which the Christians 
profess. And, since that law commands 
us to pardon our enemies, and return good 
for evil, I pardon Taicosama and all those 
who have had a hand in my death. Nor 
should any one suppose that I entertain 
hatred or resentment to those I have 
named; for, indeed, my dearest wish and 
most fervent prayer is that they all, and 
with them the whole Japanesenation, may 
become Christians, and thus save their 
immortal souls." At length the crowning 
moment came, and the executioners, 
drawing from the sheaths— in which 
they usually carry them — their tren- 
chant broad-bladed spear-heads, got ready 
to terminate their bloody work. As we 
have already stated, two of these func- 
tionaries were employed to perform this 
last act of inhumanity; and commencing 
with the first, they transpierced the sides 
of all our holy Martyrs in succession, 
despatching some with one or two thrusts, 
and nearly all with a few more. Fathers 
Pasio and Rodriguez followed the ex- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 155 

ecutioners to the foot of each cross, 
and there suggested to the holy victims 
what they should feel and say at that 
awful crisis. As for the latter, as soon as 
they saw the glitter of the weapons, they 
invoked the holy names of Jesus and Mary 
in a voice so strong and clear that they 
were heard even in Nangasasky. The 
slain died with these holy names on their 
lips ; and these who were not yet des- 
patched repeated them incessantly till they 
gave up the ghost. During this proceed- 
ing the guards formed in closer array in 
the vicinity of the crosses; but this did 
not prevent the Christians from forcing 
their way through the strong columns, 
for each and all of them desired nothing 
so much as to collect a few drops of the 
blood that streamed so copiously from our 
Martyrs' wounds. Some, indeed, gathered 
it in the hollow of their hands ; but very 
many came provided with white spotless 
napkins for the same pious purpose. 
One of these deserves especial mention, 
for he took off his coat, and holding it 
up by the folds, did his utmost to 



156 LIVES OF THE 

collect every drop that ran down from 
Paul Michi's side. An Italian, named 
John Baptist Bonacina acted in like man- 
ner ; for, not satisfied with collecting the 
blood that streamed from Michi's wounds, 
he also absorbed as much as he could 
of that of the other religious in a linen 
cloth, from which he expressed it into a 
phial that he afterwards carried with 
him to Macao. The guards, meanwhile, 
went about striking, indiscriminately, the 
spectators with their clubs, so much so, 
that many of the Portuguese and natives, 
were seriously injured by the blows which 
they received. But every effort to pre- 
vent them from carrying out their pious 
washes was ineffectual, for they set little 
value on the loss of their own blood, 
provided they could obtain even a few 
drops of that of the Martyrs. At last, 
Fazamburo's anger was so exasperated, 
that he commanded his men to charge 
and drive the multitude back to Nan- 
gasasky. No sooner, however, had he 
and his troops left the aw T ful scene, than 
the Christians returned to scrape the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 157 

blood from the crosses — nay, and to 
gather up the particles of it that had 
fallen on the ground. They, also, tore 
off the clothes of the Martyrs, wishing 
to preserve every fragment as a relic; 
and such was their immoderate zeal, that 
they left the bodies half naked. Seeing 
this, the Procurator of the House of 
Mercy at Nangasasky, had them decently 
covered with mats, the most durable mate- 
rial that he could provide for the occasion. 
This glorious martyrdom took place on 
Wednesday the 5th of February, 1597, — a 
day memorable in Japan, not, indeed, be- 
cause these were the first to lay down 
their lives in the service of the faith, but 
because they were the first who were 
honoured by an apostolic indult with the 
title and office of Martyrs. Besides our 
three religious, Paul, John, and James, we 
had in training four married men, namely, 
Tacheia Cosimo, Thomas Danghi,and two 
Pauls, Ibarachiand Suzuchi ; and that Peter 
Suchegiro, who joined the Martyrs on 
their route, and also two youths, Anthony, 
of Chinese origin, and one Ventura. 



158 LIVES OF THE 



XIII. 

CONCOURSE AND DEVOTION OF THE CHRISTIANS TO 
THE MARTYRS. THEY ARE VISITED AND VENE- 
RATED BY THE BISHOP OF JAPAN, THE KING OF 
ARIMA, AND THE PRINCE OF OMURA. 

While the awful event which we have 
described was taking place in presence of 
the crowds that came out to witness it, all 
those who remained within the walls of 
Nangasasky, natives as well as strangers, 
mounted to the roofs of the houses, and 
filled every window that commanded a 
view of this triumph of the faith on the 
neighbouring hill-top. The bishop, Peter 
Martinez, beheld everything that occurred 
from a window of our college, as he him- 
self asserts in a report that he drew up at 
the request of Brother Jerom (di San 
Leonardo), guardian of the Friars Minors. 
" With my own eyes," wrote the bishop, 
" I saw them elevated on their crosses, and 
I also saw the sheen of the spear-heads 
with which they were slaughtered. I 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 159 

witnessed, too, the vast multitudes of 
Christians and heathens who hurried off to 
gaze at this spectacle : and although, by 
reason of the distance, I could not see the 
other incidents, I heard, nevertheless, the 
exclamations of the people when the exe- 
cutioners had finished their work." 

Idolator, as Fazamburo was, the heroism 
of the Martyrs and the piety of the f a th- 
f ul made deep impression on his heart ; so 
much so, that he asked our Fathers how 
it was that when the spear-heads were 
unsheathed to slay the Martyrs, the latter 
sang songs of jubilee, and the Christian 
spectators wept. On being told that the 
crucified sang joyously because they 
were to win heaven by laying down 
their lives for the love of Jesus Christ, and 
that the Christians wept partly through 
compassion for those innocent men, and 
partly through a holy desire of dying 
a similar death, he was literally astounded 
by the answer. But he was, at the same 
time, greatly afraid that Taicosama would 
learn how much the Martyrs had been 
honored by the devotion of the faithful 



160 LIVES OF THE 

after he (Taicosama) had condemned them 
to undergo the greatest ignominy — expo- 
sure to popular execration, and finally 
death on the cross. Full of such appre- 
hensions, Fazamburo published a procla- 
mation, in which he threatened to destroy 
Nangasasky if the Christians did not keep 
within doors ; and warned them, at the 
same time, that not he, but they, would 
be responsible for the consequences if 
they persisted in disobeying his commands. 
It would appear that he resorted to these 
harsh measures on account of the vast 
multitudes of idolators from Miako, 
Ozaca, and Sacai, who were then in the 
city for mercantile purposes, and who, 
on their return would, in all probability, 
relate what they had seen ; and, indeed, 
should such intelligence reach Taicosama's 
ears, the latter would, doubtless, treat 
Fazamburo himself, as well as the narra- 
tors, with condign severity. 

It was difficult, however, to ascertain 
from the conversation of the idolators who 
witnessed the spectacle in the vicinity of 
Nangasasky, whether their shrewd com- 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 161 

merits boded good or ill ; for, such was 
their amazement at witnessing the con- 
duct of the Martyrs, and the Christians 
in general, that they could not help re- 
marking to one another — " What an ex- 
traordinary religion is this, which makes 
the merest children play with death as 
though it were a toy ! What an extra- 
ordinary people are these, who go re- 
joicing to encounter death, no matter how 
terrible or ignominious ! And then, again, 
the others, instead of trembling at the 
torments that have been inflicted on their 
co-religionists, weep and long for the 
same ; nay, envy them I" 

Meanwhile a rumour went abroad that 
the Spaniards had determined on taking 
down the bodies of the six Franciscan 
Martyrs from the crosses, with the inten- 
tion of carrying them off to the Philippine 
Islands, and the Portuguese our three, 
in order to take them to Macao ; but as 
soon as it reached Fazamburo's ears, the 
barbarian became almost frantic with rage. 
He therefore instantly ordered that the 
scene of the crucifixion should be sur- 



162 LIVES OF THE 

rounded by strong palisades, and that two 
detachments of soldiers should mount 
guard there day and night, and at peril of 
their own lives, prevent every one from 
removing a single body. He also waited 
on our Fathers and told them, if either Por- 
tuguese or Spaniards dared to make such 
an attempt in spite of his and Taicosamas 
orders to the contrary, he would inflict 
summary vengeance, not only on the them 
but also upon the entire Christian popu- 
lation of the nine districts, over which he 
exercised command and jurisdiction. 
It, therefore, became incumbent on the 
bishop to obviate such a public calamity 
as this must prove to the Christians, were 
the Europeans to persevere in carrying 
out their intentions — a calamity, indeed, 
that never could be counterbalanced by 
the devotedness of the good Spaniards 
and Portuguese. Besides, we were 
quite certain of obtaining, sooner or 
later, and without running any risk, not 
only the relics of the foresaid nine, but 
those of the whole twenty-six. The 
bishop, therefore, published sentence of 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 153 

excommunication against anyone who 
would presume to molest the guards or 
strive to carry away the bodies committed 
to their custody. 

This wise proceeding appeased the 
deputy, and so assured the guardians 
of our Martyrs, that they relaxed their 
severity and permitted the Christians to 
visit and pay due reverence to their sacred 
remains. The bishop, Peter Martinez, 
was one of the first to avail himself of 
this indulgence; for, he was allowed to 
satisfy his devotion, by visiting the scene 
of triumph two or three hours after the 
martyrdom. Having ascended the hill, 
and approached the crosses, he cast him- 
self on his knees, to venerate these 
sacred bodies; and we may regard this 
as the first act of public worship that 
was bestowed on the holy Martyrs. Nor 
was it only from Nangasasky (which, as 
we have already said, commands a view 
of the hill) that pious thousands came to do 
them homage : on the contrary, multitudes 
flocked thither from remote quarters, some 
three, some four days' journey, just as pil- 



164 LIVES OF THE 

grims'do in Europe when visiting thebodies 
of Saints. And the Japanese Christians 
firmly believed that the bodies of our 
Martyrs were holy, and, as it were, to 
prove that they deserved to be so styled, 
there floating from the staff of a lance was 
the sentenceof their condemnation, setting 
forth that they were put to death for the 
faith ! Thither came John, king of Arima, 
and Santio, prince of Omura, the former 
with the flower of his court, and the latter 
with his wife and eldest sister. They 
visited them all, one by one, and took 
pains to collect every incident connected 
with their passion. They spent a consi- 
derable time in presence of Paul Michi, 
whom they both loved dearly, and whom 
they had often heard preaching. What 
is more, prince Santio had in his possession 
a letter written by the holy Martyr a few 
days before he was crucified, replete with 
salutary instructions and admonitions to 
remain faithful to God, during the whole 
of his mortal career. On receiving it, he 
placed it reverently on his head (for it 
is thus the Japanese show profoundest 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 165 

reverence), and kissed it frequently, 
for he now looked upon it as a relic 
of a Martyr. 



XIV. 

wonderful signs in confirmation of theik 
martyrdom; and, above all, how their 
blood became the seed of vast numbers 
of christians. 

The various miracles whereby God was 
pleased to show that the death of these 
holy men was precious in his sight, served 
to augment the number of those who 
hastened to venerate their remains,, 
Indeed, the birds of prey and wild beasts, 
that abound in that region, neverventured 
to profane the bodies of our holy Martyrs. 
Moreover, on the Friday night, imme- 
diately after the martyrdom, two columns 
of flame, after resting some time above 
the crosses, were seen to move and settle 
over our college and the church of St. 
Lazarus, where the Franciscans had been 



166 LIVES OF THE 

lodged. The blood of Paul Michi, too, 
collected, as we have described, by the 
Italian Bonacina, remained for many 
months quite fluid in the phial which the 
latter brought with him to Macao. Pass- 
ing over other miracles, of which mention 
has been left on record, in the reports 
drawn up by private individuals, we can- 
not refrain from adverting to one which, 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites has 
pronounced to bo the chiefest — namely, 
that the blood of these Martyrs proved to 
be the seed of innumerable Christians. 
Taicosama, indeed, imagined that the 
crucifixion of these twenty-six would 
overawe the faithful, as well as idol- 
ators; nay, and that he would be able 
to sweep Christianity out of his domi- 
nions. But such was not the case; and 
the Bonzes themselves could not dis- 
guise their rage on witnessing results 
which they never anticipated. Before 
Paul Michi's sides had been transpierced, 
a renegade Japanese who was instrumental 
in bringing about the condemnation and 
death of one of our Martyrs, hearing the 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 167 

Saint pardoning his enemies and pray- 
ing for them, was so affected by the words 
that he burst into tears, and, embracing a 
Portuguese who was his sponsor at baptism, 
publicly renounced his apostacy and re- 
embraced the Christian faith. Nay, more, 
many heathens of Nangasasky who were 
present at the martyrdom, on their return 
to the city, asked and received baptism. 
In all quarters whithersoever the tidings 
of the blessed death of our Martyrs sped, 
so great was the enthusiasm of the people, 
that Father Gomez, the Viceprovincial,, 
found it obligatory to write a treatise in 
Japanese, showing when it is necessary to 
profess the faith openly, and what the 
Christians should avoid and observe in 
that regard. In the same little work, he 
further explained everything relating to 
martyrdom- — its high merit and the dis- 
positions it requires. To this he also 
added certain maxims for the guidance of 
the Christians, such as when they were 
bound to surrender or conceal them- 
selves according to the teaching of the 
holy Scripture and the Fathers of the 



168 LIVES OF THE 

Church. In the course of that same year, 
1597, two thousand one hundred and 
forty idolators of the nine kingdoms 
bordering on Scimo, and in the jurisdic- 
tion of the governor of Nangasasky were 
converted to the law of Christ; in the 
following year Taicosama died, and ten 
of our society arrived from China — among 
them Father Valegnani and the new 
bishop, Louis Secheira, successor to 
Martinez, who died off Malacca, on his 
voyage to India in the preceding year. 

The first thought of the bishop and of 
Valegnani, was to repair the losses which 
Christianity had sustained. The Society 
opened thirty new houses. The seminary of 
Nangasasky for eighty scholars was re- 
opened ; the demolished churches were re- 
built, and evangelical labourers were dis- 
patched to disseminate the faith through the 
whole country. The seeds thus broad- 
cast fructified a hundred-fold. In the 
course of seven months, Father Baeza 
baptized 32,000 heathens, and 9,000 
more were regenerated in Amangucci, 
Miako, and other districts. Suffice it to 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 169 

say, that in two years, 1599 and 1600, the 
souls won over to the Church in the king- 
dom of Scimo exceeded seventy thousand, 
which added to the other converts through- 
out Japan, raised the number of Christians 
to three hundred thousand. In fact, 
had that season of comparative peace 
lasted a little longer, every inhabitant of 
Japan would have been baptized. But the 
most atrocious persecutions of Taicosama 
and the two Xongun, his successors, 
blasted all this fair promise, and multiplied 
martyrs by thousands — nay, and uprooted 
every germ of Christianity, as Bartoli 
relates in his History. 



XV. 

TRANSLATION OF THE MARTYRS* RELICS TO MANILLA 
AND MACAO. ACTS OF THEIR CANONIZATION. 

Let us now return to our Martyrs, whose 
bodies, after being exposed on the crosses 
for two months, became rigid, nay, and 
frozen by the intense cold which prevails 
in Japan during the winter. But as soon 



170 LIVES OF THE 

as the heat set in, the remains of our holy 
heroes began to decompose and fall in 
fragments to the earth. On learning this, 
Father Gonzales sent some Christians to 
collect the relics, which he caused to be 
deposited in various shrines, and placed in 
our church of Nangasasky. Some time 
afterwards, these of the Franciscans were 
translated to Manilla, in the Philippine 
islands, and these of our three to the 
church of the college of Macao, in China. 
Meanwhile, beforeleaving Japan, bishop 
Martinez drew up juridical informations 
of the martyrdom ; and in the following 
year Father Secheira, his successor, re- 
sumed the same work, and took the depo- 
sitions of fifty witnesses. Having ob- 
tained remissorial letters from the Sacred 
Congregation of Rites, Apostolic Processes 
were instituted (in 1621-22) in Nanga- 
sasky, Manilla, Macao, and elsewhere 
from which three Auditors of the Sacred 
Ruota compiled the information to be pre- 
sented to the Sovereign Pontiff. This 
was examined and discussed by the Sacred 
Congregation, which, on the 3rd of July, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 171 - 

1G27, decided that there could be no 
doubt of the martyrdom and miracles of 
the twenty-six crucified; and that it was 
lawful, whenever it might seem good to 
his Holiness, to proceed with the solemn 
canonization^ of the same. After that, 
Urban VIIL, entertaining the memorials 
forwarded to him by the Catholic sove- 
reigns Philip IV. and Isabella, the cities 
of Manilla, Macao, etc., granted to the 
entire Order of St. Francis, and to the 
Society of Jesus, the faculty of celebrating, 
in honor of their Martyrs, the Office and 
the Mass on the day of their death. 
On occasion of this gracious concession 
most solemn festivities were everywhere 
held, and especially in Japan, then har- 
ried by a most dreadful persecution. Nor 
was God slow in illustrating the merits of 
his servants, by means of new favours and 
miracles wrought through their interces- 
sion. Indeed, I have now before me 
authenticated evidences of three sudden 
cures which were performed in Munich 
and elsewhere, by the invocation of our 
three Martyrs. Moreover, these holy 
men have ever since been honored in the 



172 LIVES OF THE 

Acts of the Congregation of Rites, and in 
the apostolic indults, with the title of 
Saints. The day of their passion has been 
duly recorded in the Roman Martyrology ; 
and, in fine, their proper lessons and 
prayers have been approved — their rite 
being raised to a double of the second class. 
Nothing further was required, save the 
extrinsic function of canonization and the 
publication of the supreme declaration 
of the Holy See, which the Holiness of 
our Lord Pope Pius IX. has thought fit 
to pronounce in this year, 1862. 



XVI. 

CATALOGUE OF THE RELIGIOUS OF THE SOCIETT 
PUT TO DEATH FOR THE FAITH IN JAPAN- 
BRIEF NOTICE OF THE BISHOPS WHO GOVERNED 
THAT CHURCH. 

Never since the first centuries of the 
Church did Christianity encounter more 
terrible trials than those which the faith- 
ful of Japan had to endure during a period 
of more than one hundred years. Exile, 
imprisonment, chains, spoliation of their 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 173 

goods, nay, death by strokes of clubs, 
decapitation, and other horrors were the 
appointed portion of these newly con- 
verted Christians. Cutting them across 
with scimitars, crucifixion, and thrusts of 
spear-heads were, indeed, the ordinary 
modes of putting them to death ; but these 
were all speedily abandoned in order to 
substitute torments more cruel and pro- 
tracted — such as roasting them alive over 
a slow fire, plunging them naked in ponds 
and rivers, and leaving them to be frozen 
to death; drawing off their skin and flesh, 
nay, the very muscles and nerves with 
pincers; and then, when almost reduced 
to the condition of skeletons, hacking 
them into fragments with blunted 
knives; dividing the arteries of the 
throat with a reed, and this so slowly 
that the martyrdom in many instances 
extended over seven days ; filling the 
stomach with water and then placing the 
sufferer under heavy weights till the 
pressure forced water and blood to spirt 
from his mouth ; slow submersion in the 
sulphur wells of Mount Ungen for the 
purpose of boiling them limb by limb ; 

l2 



174 LIVES OF THE 

suspending them head downwards over 
dykes reeking with every sort of pollu- 
tion, that they might thus linger many 
days breathing poisonous exhalations, all 
these appalling devices of barbarous 
ingenuity, we repeat, were heroically 
endured by men and women of every 
state, nay, and by tender maidens, little 
boys, and merest children. The three 
Orders of St. Francis, St. Dominic, and 
St. Augustin, may be proud of their sons 
who braved all these horrors ; but our 
Society can count eighty of its members 
who were put to death by one or other 
of the tortures already specified, to say 
nothing of those who either died in exile 
or sank under incredible toils. I will 
confine myself to giving a list of the 
latter in these pages, referring the reader 
for every thing I must leave untold to 
the copious volumes of Father Bartoli, and 
to the catalogue which has been published 
by Father Anthony Francis Cardim.* 

* Catalogus Regularium et Ssecularium qui in 
Iaponiae regnis ab Ethnicis in odium christians 
fidei sub quatuor Tyrannis violenta morte sublati 
sunt. Romas typis Corbelletti 1646. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN, 175 



V. F., Venerable Father.— V. B., Venerable Brother. 

THE SIX PRIESTS PUT TO DEATH BY POISON DURING 
THE PERSECUTION OF THE KING OF FIRANDO. 

F. Francis Carrion, a Spaniard of Medina del 
Campo, put to death August, 1590, at Inchisuchi, 
aged 36 years. 

F. George Carvagial, a Portuguese, put to death 
May 5th, 1592, aged 42 years. 

V. F. Joseph Fornaletti, of Venice, put to death 
in Arima, April, 1593, aged 44 years. 

F. Theodore Manteles, a Fleming, put to death 
1593, aged 33 years. 

We have not been able to ascertain the names of 
the other two. 



DURING THE PERSECUTION OF THE EMPEROR 
TAICOSAMA. 

S. Paul Michi, a Japanese, crucified, &c, aged 33 
years. 

S. John Soan de Goto, Japanese, aged nineteen. 
S. James Chisai, Japanese, aged 64. 



DURING THE PERSECUTION OF THE EMPEROR 
XONGUNSAMA. 

V.F. John Baptist Maciado, Portuguese, beheaded 
in Omura, May 22, 1617, aged 37 years. 

V. B. Leonard Chimura, Japanese, roasted over a 
slow tire, November 18, 1619, aged 44. 

V. B. Ambrose Fernandez, sentenced to the fire, 
died in prison at Omura, January 6, 1620, aged 69. 

V. B. Austin Ota, Japanese, beheaded in Firando, 
August 10, 1622. 

V. F. Charles Spinola, a Genoese, burnt over a 
slow fire in ISTangasasky, September 10, 1622, aged 
48 vears. 

V. P. Sebastian Chimura, Japanese, burnt on 
the same day, aged 57. 



176 LIVES OF THE 



V. B. Antonio Chiuni, Japanese, burnt the same 
day, aged 50. 

V. B. Peter Sampo, Japanese, burnt in same 
manner, and on same day, aged 40. 

V. B. Gondisalvo Fusai, Japanese, burnt on same 
day, aged 40. 

V. B. Michael Xumpo, Japanese, burnt on same 
day, aged 33. 

V. B. Thomas Acafoxi, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 50. 

V. B. Ludovico Cavora, Japanese, burnt same 
day and in same manner, aged 40. 

V. B. John Chungocu, Japanese, decapitated same 
day, aged 40. 

V. F. Camilo Costanzo, a native of the kingdom of 
Naples, burnt over a slow fire in Firando, Sept. 15^ 
1622, aged 50. 

V. F. Peter Paul Navarro, Neapolitan, burnt in 
same manner, in Scimabara, Novemb. 1, 1622, 
aged 60. 

V. B. Dionisio Fugiscima, Japanese, burnt same 
day, aged 31. 

V. B. Peter Onizuca, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 18, 

V. F. Jerom de Angelis, Sicilian, burnt, in same 
manner, December, 4, 1623, aged 56. 

V. B. Simon Iempo, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 48. 

V. F. Diego Carvaglio, of Coimbra, in Portugal, 
put to death in a frozen pond, in Sendai, Feb. 22, 
1624, aged 46. 

V. F. Francis Paceco, Portuguese, Provincial of 
Japan, and Apostolic Administrator of the bishopric, 
burnt over a slow fire in Nangasasky, June 20, 1626, 
aged 61. 

V. F. John Baptist Zola, of Brescia, burnt same 
day, aged 51. 

V. F. Balthassar de Torres, of Grenada, burnt 
same day, aged 62. 



MAILTYRS OF JAPAN. 177 



V. B. Gaspar Sandamatz'u, Japanese, burnt same 
day, aged 61. 

V. B. Vincent Caun, a Corean, burnt same day, 
aged 46. 

V. B. Peter Kinsei, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 38. 

V. F. Michael Carvaglio, of Braga, in Portugal, 
Wrnt over a slow fire, in Omura, August 25, 1624, 
aged 47. 

V. B. Paul Chinsuche, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 54. 

V. B. John Chinsachu, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 21. 

V. F. Thomas Tzuchi, Japanese, burnt over a slow 
fire, in Nangasasky, September 6, 1627, aged 56. 

V. B. Michael Tozo, Japanese, burnt same day, 
aged 38. 

V. B. Michael Nacascima, Japanese, after most 
cruel tortures put to death in the boiling wells of 
Mount Ungen, December 25, 1628. 



IN THE PERSECUTION OF THE EMPEROR 
TOXONGUNSAMA. 

V. F. Antonio Iseida, Japanese, who, after being 
tormented a whole month in the boiling wells, was 
afterwards burnt alive, in Nangasasky, September 3, 

1632, aged 62. 

V. B. Paul Niscifori, Japanese, burnt alive over a 
slow fire, in Nangasasky, July 22, 1633. 

V. B. Nicholas Cheian, Japanese, the first put to 
death in the dyke at Nangasasky, July 31, 1633, 
aged 64. 

V. F. Emanuel Borges, of Evora, in Portugal, put 
to death in same manner, at Nangasasky, August 16, 

1633, aged 50. 

V. B. Joseph Reomui, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner, same day. 

V. B. Ignatius Chindo, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner, same day. 



1 78 LIVES OF THE 



V. F. John Antonio Giannone, of the kingdom 
of Naples, put to death in the same manner, Au- 
gust 28, 1633, aged 44. 

V. B. John Chidera, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner, August 29, 1633. 

V. B. James Tacascima, Japanese, burnt alive 
over a slow fire, in Seechi, September 30, 1633. 

Y. B. Thomas Ricori, Japanese, burnt alive same 
day. 

V. B. Louis Cafoeu, Japanese, burnt alive same 
day. 

V. B. Dionigi Jamamoto, Japanese, burnt alive 
same day. 

V. B. John lama, Japanese, put to death in 
the dyke, September 1633, aged 63. 

V. F. Benedict Fernandez, Portuguese, put to 
death in the dyke at Nangasasky, October 2, 1633, 
aged 54. 

Y. F. Paul Saito, Japanese, put to death in same 
manner, on same day, aged 57. 

y. F. John da Costa, Portuguese, put to death in 
the dyke, October 8, 1633, aged 58. 

y. F. Sisto Tocoum, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner, October 9, 1633, aged 63. 

y. B. Damian Fucaye, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner, same day. 

y. F. Julian JSTacaura, Japanese, a man of most 
noble family, who came to Borne as ambassador, put 
.to death in the dyke, October 21, 1633, aged Q6. 

y. B. Peter, Japanese, put to death same day and 
in same manner. 

y. F. Matteo, Japanese, put to death same day 
and in same manner. 

y. B. Remigi, Japanese, put to death same day 
and in same manner. 

y. B. Laurence, Japanese, in same manner. 

y. F. John Adami, of Mazara, in Sicily, put to 
death in the dyke, October 22, 1633, aged 57. 

y. F.. Antonio de Souza, Portuguese, put to death 
in same manner, October 26, 1633, aged 50, 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 179 

V. F. Sebastian Viera, Portuguese, Viceprovin- 
cial and Apostolic Administrator of the Bishopric, 
put to death in the dyke, and burnt in Jendo, 
June 6, 1634, aged 63. 

Five venerable brothers, names unknown, put to 
death in the dyke with Father Viera. 

V. F. Diego Juchi, Japanese, put to death in 
same manner in Ozaca, February, 1636, aged 60. 

V. F. Marcello Francesco Mastrilli, tortured by 
infusion of water, dragged through the dyke, and 
finally beheaded in Naugasasky, October 17, 1637. 

V. F. Peter Casui, Japanese, put to death by a 
variety of tortures in Jendo, August, 1638, aged 52. 

V. F. Antonio Pubino, of Turin, Visitator, put to 
death in the dyke, March 22, 1643. 

V. F. Alberto Micinsky, a Pole, put to death in 
the dyke, March 23, 1643. 

V. F. Diego Morales, a Spaniard, put to death in 
same manner, March 25, 1643. 

V. F. Francesco Marches, born in Nangasasky, 
whose father was a Portuguese, and mother a mem- 
ber of the royal house of Bungo, put to death in 
same manner, March 25, 1643. 

V. F. Antonio Capece, ISTeapolitan, put to death 
in the dyke, March 25, 1643. 

The Venerable Fathers Peter Marches, Provin- 
cial, Francis Casola, Joseph Chiara, Alfonso Orroio, 
and Father Andrew, a Japanese, were sawed alive 
in Jendo, 1644-5. 

I have not .included among these a vast 
number of Catechists, whom we were 
training as candidates for the Society, and 
who were also put to death by various 
most cruel torments. 

Now, as to the bishops who governed 



180 LIVES OF THE 

that once-flourishing Church, the first was 
F. Andrew, of Oviedo, a Spaniard, and 
patriarch of Ethiopia. Being obliged to live 
concealed in the mountains, on account of 
the persecution carried on by the schis- 
matic Emperor, he was commanded by 
Pope Pius V. to proceed to Japan, in order 
to administer the affairs of that Church ;* 
but just as he was on the point of setting 
out, he was attacked by a serious malady, 
and died a holy death in Ethiopia. In his 
stead, the same Pius V. appointed Father 
Melchior Carnero, a Portuguese, who had 
been consecrated in Goa, bishop of Nicea y 
and coadjutor to the Patriarch of Ethiopia. 
He set out at once for Macao, in order to 
sail thence to Japan ; but, outworn by 
apostolic labours, extending over a period 
of so many years, devoted to the salvation 
of souls, he, too, passed out of this life on 
the 19th of August, 1583. On his demise, 
Pope Pius V. appointed, as first bishop of 
Japan, Father Sebastian Morales, Provin- 
cial of Portugal, who, after being conse- 

* The Apostolic Letter is dated Rome, Feb. 2, 
1566. 



MARTYRS OF JAPAN. 181 

crated in Lisbon (1588), embarked for 
India. A contagious malady having 
broken out on board the ship during the 
voyage, the good Prelate, who spared no 
pains for the souls and bodies of the 
infected, caught the distemper, and died 
a martyr to charity, a short distance off 
the Cape of Good Hope. 

The episcopal see of Japan being now 
a third time vacant, Pope Clement VIII. 
selected Father Peter Martinez, Provin- 
cial of India, giving him, as his coadjutor, 
Father Luigi Secheira, Lecturer of Theo- 
logy in Coimbra. Martinez having been 
consecrated in Goa, sailed for Japan, and 
landed at Nangasasky on the 13th of 
August, 1596. He waited on the Emperor 
Taicosama; and subsequently traversed 
nearly all the principalities of Japan, ad- 
minstering the sacrament of Confirmation, 
He witnessed the martyrdom of the 
twenty-six crucified, and collected juri- 
dical informations of that grand fact. At 
length, having resolved on returning to 
India, in orae to implore the Viceroy to 
give some assistance to his persecuted 

M 



182 THE LIVES, ETC. 

flock, he died at sea, off Malacca, in the 
February of 1598. On the 5th of August 
of the same year, Luigi Secheira disem- 
barked on the shores of Japan. He 
governed that church sixteen years ; and 
at last died, full of merits, in Nangasasky, 
on the 16th of February, 1614. After 
his death, the persecution raging fiercely, 
the Holy See determined that, during the 
widowhood of the church of Japan, our 
Superior then residing there should be, at 
one and the same time, vicar and apostolic 
administrator of that bishopric. Thus 
was Secheira succeeded in that office by 
Fathers Valentine Carvaglio, Francis 
Paceco, who was burnt alive, Matthew 
de Couros, who died outworn by toils, 
Sebastian Viera and Antonio Rubini, 
both of whom were put to death in the 
dyke, and Peter Marches, who, with his 
brother Francis, died Martyrs for the faith 
of Jesus Christ. 



DECREES. 183 



DECREE OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION 
OF RITES FOR THE CANONIZATION OF 
THE TWENTY-SIX MARTYRS. 

Causa Canonizationis viginti sex Martyrum in 
Iapone de mandato regni illius Imperatoris pro 
Christ i fide interernptorum. post relationem a tribus 
Rotas Auditoribus tarn Sauctissimo quam SacraB 
Rituum Congregationi factani, plene matureque per 
plures sessioues discussa, referente Illustrissimo Car- 
din ali Muto, ac cognito distinct e, primum de validi- 
tate Processuum, deinde de Martyrio atque Mira- 
culis ; eadem Sacra Rituum Congregatio censuit et 
declaravit, posse, quandocumque Sauctissimo pla- 
cuerit, ad praef atorurn viginti sex Martyrum solemnem 
Canonizationem deveniri, et in Sanctorum numerum 
cooptari, et ut tales in Ecclesia Dei ab omnibus co- 
lendos et venerandos esse decerni. 
Die 3 Iulii 1627. 

Io Baptista Card. Dettjs, 
/. Thes$alo?iicen, Secret, 



DECREE OF THE HOLINESS OF OtTR LORD 
PIUS IX., SANCTIONING THE CANONIZA- 
TION OF THE THREE MARTYRS OF THE 
SOCIETY OF JESUS. 

Praater fortissimos illos viginti tres Athletas ex 
Ordine Minorum Sancti Francisci, qui animam suam 
perdere propter Evangelium baud metuentes, earn in 
aeternam vitam custodierunt, alii tres aeque prasstan- 
tissimi fuere Viri e Societate Iesu, quos una cum aliis 
Ecclesia Iaponensis veluti Martyrum primitias Christo 
Martyrum Prin "ipi obtulit. Nomina illis erant Paulus 
Michi, Ioannes Soan, seu de Goto, utpote ex ilia in- 
sula oriundus, et lacobus vel Didagus Chisai Iapo- 
nenses omnes. Primus nobilibus ortus parentibus, 
subtiliori mentis acumine praeditus, et Sacerdotio 



184 DECREES. 

initiandus, qua scrip tis, qua concionibus propogancke 
fidei inter cives operam sedulo navabat. Alter lit- 
terarum studiis incumbens populum ad divinam 
legem erudire satagebat. Tertius rei domesticae 
addictus quotidie Christi passionem meditabatur. 
In illo persecutionis aestu j6 lo Gubernatoris Oza- 
censis capti fuerunt a lictl tbus in illius civitatis 
diversorio, licet tyrannus Tt ;osama Patres Societa- 
tis Iesu in hoc capitali iudicio minime comprehendi 
declarasset. Hinc Meacum deducti, ibi cum caeteris 
Confessoribus in vincula publica coniiciuDtur. De- 
nique unicuique eorum auricula parte excisa, et per 
summum ludibrium invarias Imperii civitates circum- 
ducti, Nangasaquium usque perducuntur. Ubiparatis 
in colle crucibus, quas ipsi antea venerabundi saluta- 
verunt, affiguntur. Paulus Miclii ex ilia triumphali 
cathedra ad circumfusam multitudinem pro Christi 
religione peroravit ; illud palam sibi gratulatus, quod 
in cruce ut Christus Dominus, eademque, atque llle, 
aetate supremum expleret diem : donee singuli ab 
imis lateribus ad humeros binis lanceis transhxi vic- 
trices animas Ccelo inserendas emisere Nonis Febru- 
arii anni MDXCVII. 

Posteaquam de hisce tribus Martyribus, sicut de 
aliis caeteris a Sedis Apostolicae Delegatis instructae 
fuissent tabulae processuales, ac tres Rotae Auditores 
iuxta vetustiorem disciplinam Causae huius accura- 
tissimam exposuissent relationem, Congregatio Sanc- 
tae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium, Sacris Ritibus 
tuendis praeposita, suam aperuit sententiam asserens 
Constare de Martyrio et Miraculis, ideoque ad actu- 
alem illorum Martyrum Canonizationem quando- 
cumque deveniri posse. Hinc Urbanus VIII. sa. 
me. qui iam Prsesidi Ordinis Minorum Sancti Fran- 
cisci de Cardinalium consilio Omcium recitandi Mis- 
samque celebrandi pro tribus et viginti suis Martyri- 
bus facultatem fuerat impertitus in Litteris Aposto- 
licis in forma Brevis XVIII Kalendas Octobris anni 
MDCXXVII expeditis, annuens etiam precibus 



DECREES. 185 

Propositi Generalis et Presbyterorum Societatis 
Iesu, eamdem ipsis tribuit facultatem, Romse editis 
insequenti die nimirum XVII Kalendas eonimden 
mensis et anni. 

Verum Dens Omnip^tens, qui congruani tempo - 
ribus adhibere solet 3dicinam, permisit ut hsec 
prseclarissinia Causa pe tria fere specula subsisteret, 
ac uostris hisce temponuda ad exitum perduceretur. 
Siquidein erumpentibus inodo undique Crucis Christi 
imruicis, ac fidei depositum penitus evertere conan- 
tibus, ipsi, qui in eiusdem lidei testimonium san- 
guinem fundere et crucis subire tormentum non- 
dubitarunt, starent pro muro Domus Israel et giis- 
centia errorum monstra comprimerent et propuLsa- 
rent. Quapropter Sanctissimus D. N. Pius Papa 
IX. postulationes excipiens Praesidis Minorities 
Sancti Francisci Familias, quibus eum adprecabatur 
ut decerneret tuto procedi posse ad Canonization era 
viginti trium Beatorum Marty rum eiusdem Ordinis, 
audita sententia pro veritate ft. P. Sanctas Fidei 
Promotoris nee non expetito consilio Revere ndissi- 
morum Cardinalium Sacrse Rituum Congregationis 
in Palatio Apostolico Vaticano tertio JSTonas Sep- 
tembris anni MDCCCLXI. Decretum tidit Tuto 
procedi posse ad Canonizationem viginti trium Mar- 
tyrum Iaponensium ex Ordine Minorum Sancti 
Francisci. Quum vero Propositus Generalis Socie- 
tatis Iesu preces Sanctissimo Domino Nostro adhi- 
buisset ut idem Decretum promulgare dignaretur 
pro tribus Beatis eiusdem Societatis Martyribus, 
Sanctitas Sua. iterum expetita sententia pro veritate 
R. P. Sanctaa Fidei Promotoris, rursus Consilium 
Reverendissimomm Cardinalium collegit in eodem 
Palatio Apostolico Vaticano pridie Nonas Martias 
vertentis anni, in quo per Romanum Cardinalem 
Nicolaum Clarelli Paracciani Causae Relatorem pro- 
posito Dubio — An tuto procedi possit ad solemnem 
eorumdem trium Beatorum Martyrum Canoniza- 
tionem? Omnes Patres Cardinales affirmativum 



186 DECREES. 

protulere responsum. Attamen Sanctissimus Domi- 
nus suam noluit declarare sententiam, ut in gravis- 
sirno iudicio tempus iutercederet, quo fervidius 
divina exoraretur Sapientia ad impetrandum lumen 
et auxilium. 

Tandem hanc statuit diem sacratissimam, in qua 
Virgo Immaculata Maria ab Angelo tarn venera- 
biliter salutata Aeterni Patris Unigenitum catissimis 
meruit excipere visceribus. Divina itaque Hostia in 
privato Vaticano Sacello piissime oblata, postquam 
in ecclesia Sanctse Mariae supra Miner vam sacro eir- 
cumdatus Patrum Cardinafium Senatu Pontificali 
Missse solemniter adstitit, in proximum euisdem 
ecclesias Sacrarium ad se accersivit Romanum Cardi- 
nalem Oonstantiniun Patrizi Episcopum Portuensem 
et Sanctae Rufinae, ac Sacrorum Rituum Congre- 
gationi Praefectum, necnon Romanum Card. Mco- 
laum Clarelli Paracciani Causae Relatorem, una cum 
R. P. Andrea Maria Frattini Sanctae Fidei Promo- 
tore, ac me infrascripto Secretario, iisque adstan- 
tibus pronunciavit ' ' Tuto procedi posse ad horum 
trium Beatorum Martyrum Iaponensium e Societate 
Jesu Canonizationem. : ' Huiusmodi autem Decretum 
in vulgus edi, in Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis 
acta referri, Litterasque Apostolicas sub Plumbo de 
solemni Canonizationis ritu in Patriarchali Basilica 
Vaticana quandocumque celebrando expediri man- 
davit, VIII Kalendas Aprilis anni MDCCCLXII. 

C. Episc. Portuensis et S. Rufinae Card. Patrizi 
S. R. C. Prafectus. 

Loco ^ Signi 

Dominicus Bartoloni S.R C. Secretarius. 



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